


Beating about the bush

by Umbreonix



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Found Family, His mother had him tested, Hylian AU, Link IS wild, M/M, Mostly light hearted, Mute Link, Revali is minorly OCD, Schitt's Creek tropes, Slow Burn, Some military homophobia mentions, but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 33,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27287584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbreonix/pseuds/Umbreonix
Summary: Revali, a former air force ace, becomes a bush pilot who transports scientists and adventurers through the dangerous Hebra wilds in the furthest northern reaches of the country.Life is pretty simple (AKA boring and purposeless) until he starts working with a quiet researcher sent from the University of Central Hyrule who is seemingly insane enough to brace the rough tundra alone.Revali spends his time now caught between worrying about the idiot and being utterly floored at his nonsensical (and sometimes feral) antics.
Relationships: Link & Revali (Legend of Zelda), Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda), Mipha & Revali (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 496
Kudos: 447





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a discord chat with Angstyastronaut, AJ (duality_of_toad) and Hades (thatsnotzelda)
> 
> I hope I did the chat justice *nervous laughs* I made it so much less angsty than I think people wanted. It's so weird where there's like, a thousand idea and you have to pick and choose.
> 
> This will be a fic of short chapters, but pretty frequent updates. I literally have it mostly written a rough draft tbh

Revali stood through the ceremony, expression stone-faced and as unreadable as he could manage in order to hide his disgust. To the outside eye, he might even have looked bored. He wasn’t going to let these assholes see the overwhelming feelings of defeat and heartbreak sinking in his stomach. If he _had_ to leave, he was leaving with his pride intact- thank you very much.

_An honourable discharge._

What a farce. It was laughable.

They had wanted him out from the day he joined air cadets at twelve years old and now they had finally succeeded. The military never did accept him for any multitude of reasons- the list was ever-expanding. Racism as the first driver perhaps? His inability to play nice with the other kids? It wasn’t his fault the idiots from his youth at camp only seemed to have two active brain cells that they shared amongst each other. Yes, they had been much more interested in finding frogs around the base and skinning them like sick depraved monsters than holding an intelligent conversation. So _excuse him_ for not joining in.

They hadn’t gotten any better with age. The army was one huge fraternity full of meat-headed man-children and if he hadn’t fit into their ‘boys club’ he thought it spoke quite favourably of his character.

The slight issue of his sexual identity didn’t _help_ matters of course. Which was also ridiculous as he had never openly identified as anything. It was just one photo from an innocuous high school party that followed him through his entire (very short) career. If they were worried he’d make a move on any of them, they were all sorely mistaken.

He had always been more concerned with potential romantic partners' personalities and sense of character rather than their genders and the men in this room never proved to have anything special of note or worth.

Well… maybe his own personality through all of this hadn’t done him any favours when it came to acceptance. His late mother used to always tell him to kill others with kindness. While she had been a wise woman, that had sounded like the stupidest idea he had ever heard. Why exactly did they deserve his kindness when they never offered it in turn?

Okay so admittedly it was _sometimes_ his ego and abrasiveness that rubbed his peers and superiors wrong, but was it really his fault he was _so damn good_ at what he did? 

After the shortest moment ever of actually considering some of the factors contributing to his downfall were maybe his own fault, he reaffirmed that no- he was perfect and everyone else was wrong.

Especially Rhoam.

Rhoam could suck it.

Still in his perfectly dignified stance, chin pointing up to the back wall stoically, he let his eyes glance up to the Colonel in front of him who was pinning a medal to his chest and _singing his praises_.  
  


Pretty words but the man was just gleeful he was getting the boot.

It was always Colonel Rhoam who had it out for him the most and now he couldn’t even feel smug that the old man was being forced to practically serenade his achievements. Sure Revali won the battle but the Colonel had won the war. The man clearly felt the same sentiment and there was a distinct sparkle in his eye of victory.

The saddest part of it all was despite what anyone said, he did _try_ to fit in. He cut his braids off. He _tried_ to not show off for a bit (but it was just too hard when he was so damned spectacular at everything he did). He only dated women for a while- then not at all because frankly, he found most people too tiring to pursue a continuous relationship with and he found one night stands uncomfortable. His obsessive compulsiveness was just a little off of being an actual disorder (but yes they _did_ try to catch him on mental illness anyway, nice try) and exchanging fluids with strangers was more disgusting than pleasurable.

The room of his peers wasn’t putting on the same diplomatic show as Rhoam. Most looked bored- Arms crossed, legs spread. They had no dignity. They looked more like punks than soldiers. The only person smiling was Mipha. Bless her enormous heart. It was forced of course. She knew as well that behind all of the pomp and grandeur that this was all nothing more than a pathetic pasquinade. She was doing her best however to try and support him.

He could at least appreciate her for that. There was no reason for someone from the navy to even have to be here.

She was too good for this place.

“-While you had gone against orders, your quick thinking and overall talent handling your aircraft has saved the lives of several of our most valuable men and women from the yiga terrorists and for that we all thank and applaud you for your service and selflessness in the face of danger! Wherever you go next, great things can be expected of you,” Rhoam said, closing the ceremony.

Revali stared dead-eyed straight ahead.

Right.

_Next._

What exactly could be next for a twenty six year old retired fighter pilot? His career had barely even started and now he’d need another job for sure.

Mipha tried to convince him for days to start working towards joining the world of commercial airlines. Frankly, he appreciated her concern, but it sounded like a fate worse than death. While the military had been stifling and full of broken bureaucracy, it was nothing near as boring and routine as commercial business. He didn’t even count that as flying. It was driving on landings and then sitting for hours coasting on autopilot and making small talk with the co-pilot. (or worse it was BEING the co-pilot) Revali _didn’t do small talk._

Unfortunately, he was still feeling a little hurt (and maybe a tad dramatic) when he decided that there was no point in half-assing exile and left society altogether to become a bush pilot.

Forget people. Forget having bosses and trying his best to fall in line. Everything was so loud all of the time and he just wanted quiet for a bit.

It wouldn't pay much, but it would taste like freedom all the same.

He moved out to the tiny town of Rito. A small community of people living at the literal end of the road. It was located long after the Trans-Hyrule highway shrunk from eight lanes, to four, to two passing through the Tabatha tundra until it was nothing but a gravel strip.

No road extended north of Rito- there was nothing further on than the great expanse of the wildly unexplored Hebra tundra and moutains.

Very few ventured out that way as even in the summer months, freak snowstorms and avalanches could bring about an explorer’s untimely doom. The winter was even more unthinkable. Winds could rise to a level of being able to pluck the average Hylian up and throw him back several feet like a rag doll.

His client list was never going to be massive- just the odd research group, maybe a few especially daring mountaineers.

Living was dirt cheap though. He got himself an acreage with a small bungalow for what felt like practically just the lint in his pocket. The amount of land let him build his own hanger for his personal aircraft- although it was more of a repurposed barn than anything.

Then just came the long part. _Living._

He expected to fall into a life of self-imposed monotony.

But then he met _Link_.


	2. Chapter 2

Revali looked at the schedule in his hand with disbelief.

“So you want me to drop you off half-way up the mountain…”

The man nodded.

“On the _Biron Snowshelf.”_

Another nod.

“And only come pick you up two weeks later by the North Crest?”

The man nodded again in a gesture that was becoming quite repetitive before he finally crossed his arms in challenge, starting to look annoyed at Revali’s line of questioning.

“And you are going _alone_?”

The man huffed.

Right. _What a ridiculous question for him to ask_.

He had worked with a number of researchers already from various universities, but they had always come in _teams_ , and nobody stayed out in the tundra let alone the mountains for that long a time before their first rest in town.

The man, whose name was just “Link” as was written at the bottom of the itinerary seemed pretty young too. Probably younger than Revali, which was likely actually if he was a student. He was short as well, a tiny little thing really. Revali wasn’t known to be tall and this kid was probably almost a foot shorter.

Who signed off on this? Didn’t universities usually have safety plans?

“You’re going to die,” Revali said, at least managing to _sound_ apathetic.

Link, ignoring that statement and having decided the conversation was over before it even began started loading equipment onto the plane.

He wouldn’t have even believed this guy was coming from a college if the school hadn’t called him themselves to book the first appointment. This was the kind of stupid he usually only got from 'Vloggers'. He'd had to run search and rescue already for a couple of those guys. This was reckless. This was a deathwish. 

Well, it wasn’t really Revali’s thing to care. (He decided to believe)

His job was just getting people from point A to point B and if this man was paying and didn’t want to engage in pointless chatter, that was perfectly fine. It was usually what he _preferred_ even.

Still, his stomach twisted in knots as they landed on the mountain shelf. It was called a _shelf_ for a reason. There was nothing but steep cliffs down wherever Revali looked.

He couldn’t even fathom the path Link was planning to take to get from here to the North Crest. The fact that he was going to be on the move too was absolutely ridiculous. It meant not even Revali would know where to pick him up if he got lost along the way.

He watched Link grab his packs and felt even more anxious. He had never seen anyone pack so light for a two-week expedition. Did he even have food in there?

The wind picked up for a moment and the top layer of the snow across the landscape that hadn't compacted yet lifted up in sheets of sharp icy dust and buffeted the men.

Revali ran a hand through his hair now finding it partly frozen.

There was no place in the world less hospitable and more devoid of life.

“You know there are better ways to die,” Revali said casually. “This is just depressing.”

Link shrugged, threw his backpack over his back and started trekking.

Revali returned to town and was feeling absolutely _restless_. 

He had _tried_ to forget about the little man he had essentially left to a frozen grave. He tried to not think about how that tiny lonely dot on the mountain heading on a path that started from nowhere and ended nowhere shrunk and disappeared in his rearview mirrors. He ESPECIALLY tried to stave off the realization that it could have been the last time anyone would ever see the guy in any state, alive or dead, again.

That wasn’t something he could do though. If he could just write other people's lives off as 'not his problem' he wouldn’t have saved those soldiers at the expense of his career. Yes. Revali was unfortunately inflicted with the massive defect of _being a good person_. His one flaw really.

He would check on Link in the morning. Make sure he wasn’t an icicle.

For now, he decided to head to the bar so he would stop his pointless worrying in the interim.

He had lived in Rito for months now but had only been to the local watering hole twice. It was a feat really considering the tiny town only consisted of a bar, a general store, an inn and a few dozen houses.

He felt his head hurt as he entered. He HATED the dive bar aesthetic. Revali was someone who preferred order. Back when he was a staff cadet for the Akkala bootcamp, he was easily one of the most hated instructors because he expected PERFECTION in the barracks. Beds needed to be more than just made- they needed to look CREASLESS. Personal knick knacks were to be stored away when not in use. Boots were meant to shine. He was not kind to what he registered as laziness or anything that he perceived as slovenliness. 

Dive bars were the definition of intentional chaos and everything he disagreed with.

This bar was haphazardly decorated with no taste whatsoever. Every wall was covered in street signs, licence plates and posters that didn’t seem to have any theme other than ‘things the owner likes’- not even arranged in a sensical way... or posted completely straight. There was nowhere to train the eye that didn’t _scream_ disorganized clutter.

As Revali made his way to the bar Harth glanced up to acknowledge him. “Well look who it is,” he said blandly.

There was no tone to be immediately recognized in his words. They weren't biting like an insult but they didn’t sound like a friendly welcoming either. It was just a statement. The guy was so incredibly stoic. His buddy Teba wasn’t much better.

Speaking of whom, Teba turned back from his place at the bar to briefly acknowledge Revali before returning his attention to the large flat screen behind Harth and taking a sip of his beer. “Been a while since you’ve come around,” Teba commented. 

Again, not exactly meant to be taken as an insult or a dig. Just another statement.

This is why he never talked to them. They were just the driest two people he had ever met. He wondered if they even talked on their hunting trips or if they just chose to trek through the woods for two days in silence like the robots they were.

Supposedly, as rumours went, they were wild in their youth. The signs, random pylons and other junk littered across the bar were apparently stolen from the various towns they had visited in their teenaged years and early twenties.

Revali had a hard time picturing this because, by city standards, they were still pretty youthful. Young enough even that both of their first borns were only about five years in age. He had always noticed that country 30s and city 30s were two very different ages.

“What will you have?” Harth asked.

“Just whatever’s on tap,” Revali sighed.

Harth nodded and grabbed a glass from under the counter.

“Huh,” Teba said.

“Huh what?” Revali asked.

“We didn’t peg you as a beer type.”

“And what _exactly_ did you peg me as?” Revali asked.

“Don’t know. Something mixed? Fruity,” Teba said, only half committed to the conversation.

Revali narrowed his eyes.

“City folk drinks,” Teba concluded and Revali unbristled. Right, it was a statement on his metro-ness rather than... other things. He could handle that.

“So what’s on your mind?” Harth asked, placing Revali’s beer in front of him on a coaster. (He supposed they weren't _completely_ heathens here) 

“What makes you so certain I came over with something on my mind?” Revai asked. “Perhaps I might have come here to watch the game,” He said before promptly glancing up to see what exactly the game was. Ug. Football. He’d pass.

They both looked at him with a sort of _‘come on now’_ expression that said they had seen right through him.

“I had a weird customer today,” Revali admitted. “He came in on his own and requested I drop him off on the top of the Biron Snowshelf. I am a little concerned for his safety out there. While I am not _legally_ responsible for his survival, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

 _(Or maybe that was the beer._ _They had been right, he did prefer mixed drinks but there was no way he could say that now)_

“Oh, you’re probably talking about Link,” Teba said.

“You know this man?” Revali asked, eyes glancing between the pair.

“Yeah he’s been comin' for a few years,” Harth explained. “I wouldn’t worry about him too much, he’ll be fine.”

“How exactly do you know?” Revali debated.

“He’s always been okay before,” Harth shrugged. “Probably glad he’s got you now though. He used to just do the trek entirely on his own. He could disappear out there for well over a month and come back looking mostly unfazed.”

“Kid’s hardy as a rock,” Teba added in agreement.

Revali sipped his beer thoughtfully.

He still wasn’t convinced.


	3. Chapter 3

He got up early in the morning with the sun and started making rueful preparations for a flight he still felt a little irritated that he had to make.

After sleeping off yesterday's anxiety, the new day only brought indignation.

What a DUMBASS to go out there so ill-prepared and alone. Perhaps some people should just die for the sake of natural selection – A thought he had as he continued to pull materials together for the search anyway.

Really he ought to just let the guy brave nature himself and live or die with his own choices- he pondered as he made the walk over from his house to the hangar regardless.

Grass wet with dew drenched his shoes and chilled his feet. It was always a little cold at dawn here even in the dead of summer. The air would warm up several degrees within a few hours but the bugs would awaken too and that wasn’t especially pleasant either. If he had to weigh being eaten alive by blackflies or braving some brisk air he'd choose the latter every time.

He had kept his warmer wear inside with the plane and as he stepped into the large barn he quickly put on his fleece-lined aviation jacket and kicked off his shoes to replace them with thick winter boots. (Then he put away his shoes neatly because he was not an animal)

Finally, he let his attention cast over to his dear Medoh. “Hello darling, aren’t you in for a treat? Two flights in two days! Why, you must be beside yourself~” he practically cooed this as he let his hand glide lovingly over her left wing.

Yes he talked to his plane. 

No he wasn’t crazy.

She was much better company than anyone in town and he has nothing but sharp words for anyone who criticizes his doting on his vessel.

He made the final preparations, gassing up, double-checking emergency equipment and then they were off into the skies.

From the air, Hebra really was breathtaking.

Most places appeared better from the sky. The inhospitable snowy mountains looked soft rather than deadly and the pack of wolves running free in the plains down below were fascinating when they didn’t pose any risk… to him.

Goddesses up above. He hadn’t even _thought_ about the danger of wildlife to Link. The kid could be being hunted right now!

He moved with more purpose to where he dropped Link and… he wasn’t there. Not an inconvenience, he had expected as much.

His next course of action was to fly towards Link’s destination and catch him on his presumed path of travel. Revali was rather confident in his keen observational skills. He had been known rather well in the military for his eagle-like eye when it came to search and rescues or spotting trouble down below.

Link… was nowhere along any logical path.

Concerning.

He didn’t see any Hylian traces on the vast tundra nothingscape below wherever he looked. Most of the researchers he knew set up large camps that were rather easily spottable by air. Link was on his own but he still expected to see a tent pitched somewhere in the area. There was none. Like a released animal, Link had disappeared.

Or so he thought.

A second later he caught sight of something that stopped his heart and he swore could have caused him to crash.

There was a little splash of baby blue the colour of Link’s winter coat halfway up a 100 ft vertical rock face. Flying closer revealed the shocking discovery that the guy was climbing with NO SAFETY EQUIPMENT.

His heart jumped in his throat when the man, at the sound of the plane, turned back casually, TOOK A HAND OF OF THE ROCK WALL, and waved.

Revali almost screamed in horror but not wanting to distract him and be the cause of his fall, he landed on the upper platform instead and waited, getting out of his plane to pace back and forth.

When the Link finally dragged himself up over the ledge. Revali was a mess of anxiety and about ready to burst. “Are you an IDIOT?” He cried. “DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUROUS THAT IS?” He took a deep breath and composed himself before sending the imbecile a glare icier than the ground they stood on. “Now, let’s forget for just a second that you just climbed a slippery frozen ledge with no safety equipment when a fall would have likely meant certain and instant death. You are alone out in the middle of a place where no one would find you if you got injured! If you break any bones or so much as twist an ankle you might also be as good as dead!”

Link gave him a bemused smile that absolutely infuriated him.

“Ug. It’s like talking to a brick. Senseless! Absolutely senseless! I don’t know why I bothered!” He grabbed at Links hands in horror. “Are those your gloves? They’re full of holes. _Tell me_ you have another pair.”

Link pulled his hands away and reached into his pockets. For a second Revali believed he was going to pull out another pair but instead it was a baggie with some sort of jerky. He popped a piece in his mouth and held out the bag to Revali in offering.

Unbelievable. “You’re offering _me_ food?” His voice shook in such a scandalized way it almost sounded like a squawk. “Save your rations idiot!”

He stalked back to his plane and angrily rummaged through his supplies, Link followed behind casually to watch what he was up to. Revali finally tossed back a bag of trail mix and his extra set of gloves to Link’s feet. The man looked down in surprise.

“Whatever. Your safety I assure you is none of my concern. Starve because you didn’t pack any rations, freeze to death or get eaten by a bear for all I care. I’m not so nice that I’ll trip over myself to help any idiot who doesn’t even have a lick of common sense.”

With that, he headed back into town, powdery snow blasted at Link in his aftermath.

_Ridiculous._

So he did end up returning once more.

Sue him.

It had been a week and he was feeling bad for poor Medoh all cooped up inside so he took her out and if he just so happened to take a route that took him to Link’s general area, that was entirely a coincidence.

He saw a large blob of movement down below on a large snowy plateau and figured it must be the other man… although… that little dot was somehow _larger_ than he expected.

He flew down a little to scope things out.

A bear. Link was riding A BEAR. A grizzlemaw no less.

Even from such a distance up above, Link must have heard his string of screeched curses because he looked up and waved with a shit-eating grin.

Oh he was DONE.

... but not before a few more choice words. "I TOLD YOU TO GET EATEN BY A BEAR NOT RIDE ONE!"

Elsewhere in the Valley, Teba was moments away from shooting a white pigeon. The sounds of profane shouts and screams caused their prey to take flight in alarm and the white-haired man lowered his bow silently. If he was disappointed, it didn't show across his face.

“Sounds like they’re at it again,” Harth said.

“Seems so,” Teba agreed.

They moved on wordlessly in search of a new target.

The screaming continued. 

“Sure has a lot of energy that one,” Harth commented, "and a good set of lungs."

“Yup,” Teba said now eyeing a larger prize- a deer who had peeked its head up to stare away from them and in the direction of the cacophonous noise out beyond.

He notched his bow once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last scene with Teba and Harth was inspired by Master_Torch_Master


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a short chap XD On most fics I have standards about how long my chapters have to be but I'm trying something different this time around. I want to keep trying to have once a day posts but the posts will definitely range from drabble to full-length chapters

Revali stormed back into the house in a huff.

That was the most _ridiculous_ thing he’d ever seen.

No matter what he said to Link, the result was unsatisfying as the man had just stared at him calmly as if HE were the odd one.

He’d have wanted to go and vent to the guys at the bar but they’d surely gaslight him into thinking he was the one over-reacting, just like they did every time he had Link-related complaints.

His phone rang and he swiftly pulled it out almost crying in elation at the image of him and Mipha in dress uniform on his call screen.

He answered immediately. “MIPHA YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS.”

He proceeded onto a ten-minute rant before Mipha could even get a word in edge-wise, feeling complete catharsis on finally being able to release some of his pent-up stress.

“-A BEAR, Can you believe this idiot?, I do think this town lacks some common sense, they all act as if it’s all so _normal_. Goddesses! I just-“ He rubbed his temples tiredly. “I don’t understand anyone out here.”

There was silence and he shifted. “Erm, Mipha are you there?”

“I’m… a little speechless if I’m being honest,” the gentle voice on the other side of the phone finally admitted.

He pumped his arm in victory. “See? That’s a NORMAL reaction.”

“But I’m glad you’ve found friends out there,” Mipha said.

“Friends?” He asked in disbelief. “Where did you get that notion in anything that I just said? Were you even listening? What _friends_ exactly are you talking about?”

“Link,” Mipha said, “And Teba and Harth. They all sound quite lovely. I’m grateful you aren’t out there all alone.” There was a slight pause. “I worried about you Revali. You haven’t been answering my calls.”

Revali felt his heart clench. Right.

In his flustered state earlier he had forgotten about how he had been dodging Mipha for the better half of a month.

Don’t get him wrong, he loved her dearly but… she had originally told him that moving out into the northern wilds would be a mistake and he had been starting to feel in some ways that she had been right. However, his pride would never allow for her to know that.

He didn’t dislike his work but the issue was that his work often only took up a couple of hours a week and he was at a loss of what to do with the rest of his time. He tried taking up old hobbies but they hadn’t felt the same when he wasn't working towards anything.

Still, he had set up an archery space out at the back of his property behind the hangar that he dubbed the Flight Range. His grandfather had been very adamant on teaching him it when he was a child and he'd practiced it to an extent that he was almost as swift and precise with a bow as he was with a rifle. However, while it was a single-person sport, without competition or rivalry he found practicing a little uninspiring. Not unlike playing soccer alone.

He had taken her calls eagerly at the beginning as he was busy setting up his business and constructing the modifications to his hangar but then… found he had nothing to talk about as he had nothing left to do.

He didn’t know how to answer her constant “How are you doing”s.

He didn’t know. He wasn’t _doing_ anything.

“Well, I’ve been busy,” he lied.

“I can see. I feel almost foolish thinking that you’d be bored out there all alone. You’d always managed to make anything lively Revali. The town is so lucky to have you,” she said this with such an honest tone that it physically hurt him. 

“Of course they are,” he said weakly.

There was a knock at his door and he straightened in surprise.

“What was that?” Mipha asked.

“A visitor…” Revali answered. How odd, he didn’t get many of those.

“I’ll wait if you want to answer it,” Mipha offered. “Or call back later?”

“No,” Revali said a bit too quickly in a way that embarrassingly betrayed how happy he was to finally be talking to her again. “Just wait one second.”

He put the phone down on the table and wandered over to the door.

It was Teba.

“Oh… hello?” Revali said in confusion.

Teba handed him a package wrapped neatly in butcher’s paper.

“What-“

“Your cut,” said Teba. “Thanks for the assist.” The man almost smiled as he pat Revali’s shoulder once firmly and then walked off.

Revali just stared at the package in his hands in utter confusion before snapping out of his stupor. “WHAT ASSIST?” He called out after him.

Teba didn’t even look back, he just gave a slight wave over his shoulder.

Revali returned inside in bafflement and picked the phone back up.

“Hey,” he said.

“You’re back! I heard yelling. Is everything alright?” Mipha asked.

“It was Teba…” Revali said. “He just thanked me, then handed me a package and left.”

“What is it?” Mipha asked.

Revali held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he unwrapped the paper. “Meat,” he answered. “I- I’m so confused.”

“Well that was nice of him. I _knew_ you were friends.”

“I-“ Revali stared at the large strip of unknown animal in confusion. “I really don’t understand this town.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cut it VERY short for my once-a-day self-imposed deadline. (So obvs this ended up being pretty short too) I think I'm going to have to give up on once a day soon XD Especially when I have other fics to write. I just really don't want to lose momentum with all of my unfinished works I have on the go.

Eventually the day Revali was scheduled to pick Link back up finally arrived.

Despite every reservation the pilot ever had about the whole thing, Link was exactly where he said he’d be, when he said he’d be, looking almost no worse for wear than when he’d been dropped off. (Besides his clothes being oddly singed in some places)

He felt a creeping exhaustion and sense of defeat as he landed the plane and trudged up to the hastily thrown together makeshift camp.

Link was wearing the pelt of a wolf over his damaged jacket and all Revali could think was: _So much for the fear that a pack might do him in._ This feral man was definitely the top predator out here.

Yes, he really had run himself ragged for nothing.

“I guess you’re some sort of bush man/crazy hardcore survivalist then?” Revali commented dryly.

Link was preoccupied cooking some meat on a small compact cook pot and didn’t answer him.

“You _could_ have _said_ something to ease my conscience a little for having had helped you out,” Revali said.

Link was still facing away but there was a small huff of laughter, made visible as it condensed in the cold mountain air.

“Well I’m ever so glad I was able to amuse you so,” he said, crossing his arms and only a _little bit_ offended.

Link didn’t reply ( _of course_ ) but scooped some meat up onto a piece of slate and handed it to Revali who merely bunched his eyebrows together in confusion. Why was he always trying to feed him? He was also handed a sharpened stick he assumed was meant to skewer the meat in place of cutlery.

“I take it this is wolf meat?” Revali asked, staring down at his bowl and then to Link's garb.

Link nodded with a slight hum, the first vocalization he had ever heard him make, as he scooped out his own portions.

There had been nuts that didn’t look edible in the pan as well that Link had omitted from plating- assumably some sort of seasoning. 

All in all, Revali was skeptical.

In the city he was rather particular with his meat, preferring cucco or quality cuts of hateno cow; farm raised animals.

However, he had ended up cooking that meat Teba had given him the other week and found it rather good, only to find out later it was venison. So he wasn’t _entirely_ opposed to experimenting.

It was more just a latent distrust in Link’s sense of taste. If it was anything like his common sense, this was going to be an off experience.

Still, he gave it a try and found himself oddly… impressed?

He couldn’t tell if it was the wolf itself or Link’s choices in cooking and seasoning. He was a little curious to see what the guy could pull off in a fully functioning kitchen.

He noticed after a few morsels that Link was staring at him.

“What?” Revali asked. Link kept staring. “It’s not as bad as I thought,” he admitted.

Pleased, Link finally returned his attention to his own bowl.

“By the way, how exactly did you hunt this wolf?” Revali asked.

Link merely held up a soup ladle and he **_hoped_** to the Goddesses that he was joking. (He almost believed he wasn't by this point)

When they finished, he helped the researcher pack his stuff on the plane- less out of kindness and more so to speed the process along. He was used to the summer down below and was COLD. He certainly hadn't expected to have to dally up there for lunch.

Revali went to pick up the final bag and found it impossibly heavy. He felt a little flustered at the sight of Link watching him fail to lift it. He quickly stepped away, ego bruised. “What’s in this?” He asked sardonically, “Rocks?”

Link grinned and unbuckled to top flap of the canvas bag only to reveal a mountain of ore.

“A geologist,” Revali scoffed. “Oh course, it would make sense for someone with a pebble in place of a brain to be off studying rocks.”

Link shuffled for a moment awkwardly (a gesture Revali didn’t catch as he continued to inspect the haul) before ultimately shrugging and heaving the bag over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing.

He was… stronger than he looked.

Revali checked his watch. “Well, let’s get moving Stone-Head, there’s some winds that are supposed to come in by two that we might want to avoid if we can. I’m sure you’re eager to return to civilization for a few days anyway,” then added under his breath “ _If you can call a town of a couple buildings 'civilization'_.”


	6. Chapter 6

The beginning of HIFA had Revali coming to the bar more frequently. While he had a strong dislike for most sports, he always found a certain elegance to soccer.

It helped of course, that his whole family was obsessed. It was considered a disgrace for anyone of Lurelin heritage to turn their nose up to the game. His family had accepted and a lot about him over the years and always extended an unfaltering pillar of support but… if he disliked soccer... no exaggeration, he surely would have been disowned on the spot.

His eyes were glued to the screen this particular night in rapt attention when a drink was placed in front of him. Some sort of wildberry cocktail, exactly his taste but… he looked up to Harth. “I didn’t order this.”

Harth eyed him with a nearly imperceptible smirk. “Courtesy of-“ The chair next to Revali dragged out. “Him,” Harth finished, gesturing with a tip of his head.

Revali glanced over.

Link.

The blond man winked in what he could only assume was a joke.

“Oh it’s you,” Revali said. “Haven’t seen you since I released you in town. Thanks… I suppose.”

He took a sip of his drink and looked back to the screen to make sure he hadn’t missed any important plays. “Enjoying yourself? Taking in Rito’s many sights?” He drawled.

Link was still staring at him straight on when he nodded slyly- a gesture Revali missed entirety in his divided attention.

Link gestured to the tap and Harth nodded in understanding, pouring him a beer.

Oh- commercial break.

Revali looked to Link with a teasing smirk. “You even old enough to drink?”

For a moment, Link looked almost annoyed. He dropped his driver’s license on the counter. “Huh,” Revali said after studying it over. “I must admit you’re much older than you look-“ In fact, he was only a year and a bit younger than Revali himself. He glanced back at Link who still looked a little miffed. “Though I suppose you’re used to hearing that.”

Link huffed. _Apparently_.

“You really don’t talk much do you?” Revali asked. At first he had figured it was just Link not wanting to be friendly. He was quite gruff on their first meeting, a little defensive even. Now he was actively seeking out Revali’s company but still choosing to not talk. Whatever, it hadn’t really been much of an inconvenience yet. It was hardly the weirdest thing about him and if he did ever choose to talk he could only imagine the nonsense that would come out of his mouth.

Link only shot him a cheeky grin in reply.

“Well,” Revali said, changing the topic. “You’re going back out tomorrow yes? I hope you’ve drafted up your new itinerary.”

Link pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him.

“Hebra North Summit to the Hebra South Summit???” He reigned in his surprise. It was Link after all. “As reckless as it is, the real issue is you thinking I can just land a plane on a SUMMIT. I can do this spot and this spot as the closest we can get,” He said pointing two areas near each summit where the contour lines spread.

Then he paused. “You know, you should probably give me a picture of your intended travel path- in case you ever need help or get lost.”

Link looked a little offended for a moment at the notion but pulled out his phone and opened up a markable map through his apps.

He paused uncertainly before slowly tracing his finger starting from the North summit and spiraling down. So far so good. Then he continued to draw, and continued and continued. Red lines ended up crossing several times as he doubled back, noticing spots of interest he missed. Before long the entire map was more red than map.

“THAT’S SO HELPFUL THANK YOU!” Revali finally snapped. “YES IF YOU FREEZE TO DEATH OUT THERE I’LL JUST LOOK _EVERYWHERE_.”

“I thought it was weird seeing you two getting along for once,” Harth called from over his shoulder, attending to another regular. “Play nice in the bar okay?”

Revali shook his head and just looked at Link. “Forget it.” The commercials had ended and that was all of the time he was going to spare on that train of thought. Not when there were more pressing issues.

“FOR THE LOVE OF HYLIA,” Revali cried as number 12 from the other team scored. “I SWEAR IF LURELIN LOSES TO _TARREY TOWN_ OF ALL PLACES!”

They were still leading of course but there were a lot of dumb plays this game on the part of his favourite team and Tarrey Town should not have been able to make half the shots that they did.

Revali shook his head in disgust. “Ever since Armes became coach… He’s just ruining this team!”

Link hadn’t left after he closed up shop for business talk so he spared him a brief side look. “You like soccer?”

Link crinkled his eyebrows together and kind of shrugged, tilting his head side to side.

“Anyone who doesn’t like soccer just doesn’t understand the intricacies! It’s not like other sports where you just have to have a thick skull and big shouders! Soccer is an art anyone can excel at with skill and creativity. Take Numar there- number 3, wirey little guy but he’s the best on the team- watch him now! Oh! Did you see that pass?”

Link nodded.

“It’s not just running around either you know, the field's just a more complicated chessboard. When you watch long enough- there are distinct patterns.”

Revali spent the rest of the night detailing each and every play and Link watched attentively and nodded. It was hard to say if he was really absorbing anything but the company wasn’t terrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I'm going to make Revali love soccer!  
> Also me: I know nothing about soccer!
> 
> Poor Link trying to lay the moves on his hot but clueless pilot.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter posted only three hours later??? Haha It's a short one don't get too excited

The season passed by fast.

Revali grew less and less concerned as Link continued to be found waiting at the meeting points, entirely unharmed other than a few new singes on his clothes each time. Which of course he eventually found himself having to point out. “What the hell?” He couldn’t help asking. “Aren’t you a geologist or something? What could you possibly always be doing to SET YOURSELF ON FIRE?”

Link just smiled and shrugged as always.

Finally, just as autumn was hitting, it was time for Link to go home for good.

They flew back in silence and Link scampered off to get his truck. It was an old and worn thing, rust peeking out from chips in the red paint. It bounced as he drove along the grass to pull up to the hangar.

He loaded up his season's worth of treasures and samples. Revali watched the entire time while leaning against the hangar’s outer wall with his arms crossed.

Maybe he’d miss him just a little bit.

If only because he made the days passed by in this town a little less predictable.

He really had been an odd creature right up until the very end.

He wondered if he’d be back next summer?

As Link finished up. He seemed to take a deep breath before turning to Revali and sending him an almost sorrowful smile.

“It’s okay to miss me,” Revali said.

Link grinned at his haughty tone and then made a gesture, tapping his chin and extending his hand out and- WAIT. Was that sign language?

“You communicate through HSL?” Revali said in disbelief.

Link nodded in confusion.

“You can’t speak?” Revali clarified.

Link paused then nodded.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?”

Link gave him an amused look. One that said _‘are you an idiot?’_ which definitely riled Revali up because you know it’s bad when an idiot is calling you an idiot.

“THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT OBVIOUSLY!” Revali quickly replied in a fluster and then shook his head. “You are the worst! Get out of here! Good Riddance!”

He nearly chased Link into his car and the blond laughed the whole way in playful glee. He gave Revali a sloppy wave and a lop-sided grin before he drove off and Revali rolled his eyes.

 _Honestly_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He'll be back


	8. Chapter 8

He was back. Yay.

MUCH sooner than Revali expected. In the middle of the winter no less.

Revali stared apathetically into the pair of baby blues haunting his doorstep.

“And what exactly do you want? You _do_ realize I’m closed for the season right?” He asked, resisting a shiver at the cold winter air now invading his home.

Link’s shoulders hunched a little but then he looked back at Revali determinedly and handed him a note.

Revali took it and found it to only be a single sentence. _‘I need to go to the Sturnida Basin’_

“Absolutely not,” he snapped and shoved the paper back at the other man dismissively. “No one goes out in the winter. I get you _think_ you’re invulnerable, but I promise you, you’re not.”

Link lifted his hands as if to sign but scrunched his fingers in frustration. Instead, he pulled out his phone, fiddled with it for a moment and then handed it to Revali.

It was set to new contacts, he clearly wanted him to put his number in. Revali fixed Link with a look. It seemed that they weren't done arguing this point. Meanwhile, a deep bone-chill was starting to set in as the air permeated through his sweater. He was moments away from chattering teeth so he stepped a little to the side in open invitation. “Okay, clearly it's is going to take a while to drill this into your thick skull so get in, I’m freezing.”

He ushered Link inside and shut the door quickly before reluctantly inputting his number and handing the phone over.

Link typed a few letters and Revali suddenly heard his phone buzz in the other room.

Him going to retrieve it seemed like permission to the blond to kick off his boots and follow him in.

Revali glanced at his phone.

_‘Link’_

“Yes obviously,” Revali snapped, “Get to the point.”

But Link didn’t, when Revali looked up, Link was scanning the house in wonder, when he met Revali’s eyes, he quirked his head before typing, _‘Do you actually live here?’_

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” Revai asked.

_‘It’s too clean, it’s like a model home.’_

Revali thought of responding, maybe making some off-handed comment about the horror show he had no doubt was probably Link's place but there was a more pressing matter at hand.

“Link, there’s no way you’re going out there, you should just return to Central Hyrule.”

Now the researcher was back on track. _‘I NEED to go. I’ll pay extra’_

Revali wiped his face in frustration. ”It’s not about the money. Does the school even know that you’re here or are you going rouge? You do know that it is HOPELESSLY stupid to go out in the winter like this. The whole town is shut down with all this snow. In fact, how did you even get here? I figured the road in would be impassable at this point.”

 _‘I got stuck a few times’_ Link admitted. _‘but this was important._ _There’s something I missed out there._ _Or rather, something I saw that I didn’t realize I saw._ ’

“You’re not curing cancer!” Revali scoffed. “I don’t see the point for all this melodrama. I’m sure this could have waited until the summer.”

 _‘My funding won’t extend to the summer! This was my last year!’_ Link protested.

A small spark of something that felt a lot like disappointment struck in Revali’s chest. He had kind of just assumed…

His summers would be getting dreadfully boring from now on. “Even if I _wanted_ to help, the plane is in for the winter. Do you see this snow? The whole runway is buried.”

 _‘I’ll shovel’_ Link volunteered quickly.

“It would take you all day.”

 _‘I’ll shovel’_ Link repeated.

“Fine,” Revali sighed. “Shovel and I’ll _think_ about flying you out.”

It was an impossible task of course. By this point, there were well over 25 inches out there. He figured Link would give up eventually. He lead him outside, handed him a shovel and closed the door in his face before leaning his forehead against the cold entryway for a moment with a long sigh. Exhausting. This man was exhausting.

After the moment passed he returned to his couch, draped his fluffy blanket over his shoulders and curled back up with his book.

He tried to concentrate but about every half hour he would glance outside to watch the man continue to struggle through his task.

By mid-afternoon, Link was actually halfway through and Revali was faced with the sinking realization that he was actually going to do it.

He should have known really, this was Link they were talking about.

He had been drinking tea at the window watching the struggling man when he slowly let his gaze wander up to the mountains above. It always struck him how deceptively peaceful they looked in the summer, but now there wasn’t even that illusion. The peaks were gray and blurry and looked like thinly veiled death.

He watched the other man once more with a tight frown. Why was all this so important to him that he felt like he needed to endanger himself to this extent? He supposed he wasn’t one to talk. He used to be a passionate person too- recklessly chasing storms in his aircraft, making the most daring landings just to prove he could. Just to be the best.

He didn’t dislike passionate people.

With the most resignation ever assigned to any one person. Revali went out and helped him with the last bit of shovelling.

When the runway was completely clear, the men flew out towards the mountains. However, as Revali had predicted, there was nowhere to land, and he told Link as much.

“You can tell from looking at the cliff faces- that’s over five feet of snow! If I land the plane, it will sink and be stuck all winter. There's nothing we can do.”

He hoped this would finally be enough to dissuade Link.

It wasn’t.

Link looked at him dead in the eyes for a moment before opening the door and throwing his pack out.

“WHAT-“

Link gave him an apologetic smile and jumped out after it. Revali watched him with shock as he fell the fourteen or so feet and landed cushioned in the soft snow.

He dug his way out and waved to the plane.

Revali was absolutely speechless.

After a moment he called out, "OKAY BUT HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO PICK YOU BACK UP?! YOU IDIOT!"

Link just gave him a look that said _'we can figure that out later'_

It was hard to believe he forgot how GODDESS DAMNED irritating he was.

When Revali got home he made a point of learning every curse word and insult he could in sign language before calling Mipha and venting.


	9. Chapter 9

Link had said he only needed three days.

It was a shorter amount of time but no less worrying. It was below negative thirty up there even before the wind chill- not conditions a hylian could survive in for any protracted amount of time, even with the proper winter wear.

To be honest, he was angry enough that the worry came second for once. Link would pull through, _he always did_ but jumping out of his plane was one of the stupidest and most irresponsible things he had ever seen someone do and he was _seething_. Certainly, it was not the kind of behaviour he would ever allow on his aircraft again.

He’d be telling Link that when he picked him up… Once he figured out how the hell he was even going to do that. He had seen first hand that there was nowhere to land. Revali had spent the better part of the day thinking about this and was frankly, tired. Once he dropped him off it became his job and responsibility to figure out how to pick him back up but there was just no feasible way…

His plane had a pretty good anti-skid system but that meant nothing on that much snow, he might as well be landing on bottomless bog; it would have the same effect- he would instantly sink. Maybe a frozen lake? He’d have to risk the ice being thick enough… not to mention no lakes immediately came to mind other than Lake Kilsie which brought forward it’s own problems in the form of massive bluffs that separated the basin from the water.

Perhaps if he landed there and waited long enough Link would find him eventually and no doubt gracefully climb his way down like the Goddess damned mountain goat he was.

At the end of this thought, the power went out.

Great.

He had a strong feeling this was coming eventually this winter. It seemed like only a matter of time. Maybe one of the trees damaged in the last ice storm finally succumbed and fell onto a powerline?

Or was it just his house?

He peaked outside to try and see if the lights were still on at the general store down the way but suddenly got a bone-chilling feeling. Something was TERRIBLY wrong, he could feel it in the air pressure and the little hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

Through all his years of flying he learned to trust these kinds of instincts, so he slammed the door shut as he ran back inside and started to pull up satellite weather maps on his phone.

His face immediately drained and his chest clenched tightly in horror at what he saw.

 _Link was going to die_ and, given that he was not the type to leave someone for dead without at least _trying to help_ , so was he most likely.

He stumbled to put on his boots without a second thought and then he ran out the door.

Any anger was gone as he sprinted to Medoh, just panic guided him forward now. He tripped once or twice on the slippery trampled snow that was the thin path to the hangar.

Then he was in Medoh. Then he was in the air, and suddenly he was calm.

As hot-headed as he could be, he knew how to handle himself in an actual crisis. It was what had made him so effective as a military pilot.

The day he had saved the soldiers, he was eerily calm-minded and rational as well. He knew he could do it, so he did.

Things definitely looked much worse now that he was up in the sky as he could see over the large rock formations that had been hiding the encroaching storm clouds- which were somehow the most ominous he had ever witnessed. It looked like a scene from a natural disaster movie.

_and he was flying right towards it._

Unlike last time, he was not so certain of his chances of success on this rescue. All he knew was that if he stayed home he’d hate himself forever and that just wasn’t an option he could happily live with.

He made it to the basin in record time and focused his attention on ignoring the nasty storm getting closer and closer by the second in favour of scanning the massive snowy expanse. First for any glimpse of life or movement that could be Link, second for a place to land.

His original idea for landing on the lake was now out given that it banked on Link knowing to come find him and this was much earlier than their agreed upon meeting time.

There was a somewhat larger body of blue down below and he had thought he had lucked out and found a pond. As he got closer though, he found that it somehow wasn’t frozen. Seeing steam rising he suddenly realized that it was a hotspring.

The snow around the spring’s parameter was miraculously thinner due to the heat and so he landed with relative ease.

It was starting to snow now. Granted only lightly, but it wouldn’t be light for long. Soon there’d be zero visibility and both his chances of finding Link or getting out would be lost entirely.

He stepped out of Medoh ruefully. He found that this level headed calm he sometimes experienced only extended to when he was actually behind her controls.

As the cold wind hit his face and nipped mercilessly at his skin he began to realize how stupid this had been.

The basin was massive and Link was nowhere. Worse yet, the snow was only thin enough to drive on along the water’s edge- an issue because it was tightly nestled between steep towering rock ledges.

Planes couldn’t just shoot directly up in the air, they needed a lot of open area to take off from and slowly ascend.

Just as everything was beginning to look hopeless, there was a whistling noise from up in the distance.

Well at least he’d accomplished his first objective after all.

Link was only a bit more than a dot in the distance, standing way up the sloping hills of the basin. He had clearly heard and saw Revali come in, this was good.

Revali waved his arms as wildly as possible to try to signify the urgency for him to come down.

Link started to make his descent, but it was painfully and frustratingly slow.

Meanwhile, Revali began to re-examine their options. Well if he had achieved one impossible task, what was a second? There must be some sort of solution to get them out of there. He found himself absentmindedly stroking Medoh’s wing as he surveyed the land. That’s when he noticed the anomaly in the falling snow. Just west of the spring, the falling snowflakes were being shot vertically far back up several dozens of feet into the air. His eyes trained down to the fissure in the earth directly below this strange vertical column of wind.

Well.

That might work.

A thermal updraft. He had studied basic geography of course as many aviators do. He had never heard of anyone trying to _fly_ in one, but if anyone could do it, it was surely him.

He turned back to watch Link still approaching. He was moving faster now, having found a way to slide down the drifts in his snowshoes. He… seemed to be favouring his right leg but that might just have been his imagination.

As soon as the other man was finally in front of Revali, he was grabbed and dragged to Medoh “We have to go,” Revali said briskly. Link was struggling a bit in protest at first at the harsh grip but he seemed to give up all resistance immediately when he heard the urgency in Revali’s “ _Now_.”

As soon as they were both in the plane, the pilot turned to him. “Right. Well. First off I would just like to say as I wasn’t able to earlier: YOU WILD CAVE MAN. YOU ABSOLUTE NEANDRATHAL. IF YOU EVER JUMP OUT OF MY PLANE AGAIN I AM LEAVING YOU HERE FOREVER.”

Link looked at him perplexed.

“I just wanted to get that out in case we die,” Revali clarified calmly.

Link however, looked even more taken aback. Clearly he still hadn’t caught wind of the danger. _Some survival man._

“I take it you haven’t seen the skies?” Revali asked.

Link looked up. From this angle, the darker angry storm clouds were just starting to appear over the basin’s edges which blocked most of the sky. It would be upon them in minutes.

Revali didn’t bother to gauge his reaction, he was laser-focused on the task at hand. He started Medoh up again and positioned her to face the geyser of air dead on.

They really were lucky Revali was possibly the best-damned pilot to ever live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for Revali to finally show that he's a total badass too.  
> This is, by the way, the closest to Revali's gale we're gonna get.
> 
> I'm so tired I wrote this at three AM when I finally worked through writers block but I can barely read, I'm just crossing my fingers this isn't trash lol.


	10. Chapter 10

Link must have caught wise to what Revali was doing rather late.

As in, while they were speeding as fast as the plane could possibly go straight towards the rock face and what would appear to the eye as an inevitable crash.

Revali felt a hand grab his thigh in a vice grip and grimaced. Well if _that_ wasn’t distracting… It was probably the closest part of him Link could reach _but still_.

“This is either going to go very well or very, very poorly,” Revali noted. “I can stop and you can get out now if you wish.”

The hand was withdrawn and Revali allowed himself a second to check on Link. He was staring straight ahead now with a shockingly unwavering expression of determination and trust. Well, he’d shown himself time and time again to be the sensible one of the pair- perhaps Link was banking on that.

“Good, there’s no going back now,” Revali said solemnly, they had just passed the final point where he’d be able to safely break before the updraft.

When they hit it, it felt like being free-flung into the air by a slingshot.

It took every ounce of Revali’s concentration to not spin out. Within seconds they were several feet above the highest peaks. His ears popped a little at the quickest change in elevation he had ever experienced. 

Then a new set of problems arose.

The world was entirely whited out by flurries of snow and ice. Pellets clanked heavily against the cockpit.

“Well this is un-ideal,” Revali commented, although it really went without saying.

It had been a while since he had felt wind like this too. It took all of his efforts at the wheel to not be flung around at the whims of the crosswinds.

As for finding Rito… well it was a guessing game.

He had to rely entirely on flight speed and his compass but the wind definitely would throw any mental calculations he made for a loop.

It came as a massive relief when they started to see lights down below. It seemed most people got their backup generators going before the storm

His own property was still entirely dark but the placement of the other houselights gave him a good idea of where his own home was… Goddess he hoped he wouldn’t crash into it.

It was a sideways landing when they reached his lot. He didn’t bother aiming near the hangar, it was still dangerous to walk the whole distance across the entirety of the property in this weather and not get turned around.

Even with as close as he had gotten to the house, the short trek over was no less terrifying. They could hardly see more than ten feet in front of them.

Snow was whipping at them horizontally and quite a bit of it was finding its way uncomfortably down the neck of his jacket. Ice pellets stuck to his eyelashes and made it even harder to keep his eyes open.

The house was all but invisible until they reached the doorstep and Revali, grateful he hadn’t locked the door in his rush out, merely turned the knob an inch and it swung open violently.

Link and him rushed in before he, with much more effort, pulled the door shut and locked it.

Still pumped on adrenaline, he wasted no time pacing around and lighting candles, illuminating the dark house in soft light.

Before his last match burned out, he dropped it into the fireplace and the logs slowly began to ignite.

He glanced out the window at the raging storm and to where he knew they had left Medoh. Poor girl was going to have an unpleasant night, his heart twisted for her.

Link was now staring at him in the most incomprehensible way. It could be anything from awe to indignation but Revali decided to take it as the former. “Impressive, I know,” He said. “Very few can achieve a mastery of the sky. You’re lucky it was me rather than any other ordinary pilot-“ Perhaps feeling a tad dramatic he chose to coincidently stand in front of his displayed medals at this thought and paused to make sure Link’s attention had caught onto his accolades.

“I doubt anyone else would have noticed let alone considered using that updraft. It was quite a masterpiece of aerial maneuvering if I do say so myself,” he now looked to the wall of honours distastefully. The anger and indignation was finally bubbling back. “It’s such a shame, that even with my notable ability to explore the firmament, my superior skills are wasted here, in the middle of nowhere bailing out dumbass youtubers and moronic rockheaded geologists.”

“It’s just…” he rubbed his temples, “ _asinine_.”

There was still no indication of what was going on behind those darkened blue eyes of Link’s. The small blond walked over and looked out the window as well with scrunched eyebrows.

“Are you pouting?” Revali asked. “Think you could have survived out there and are upset I ruined your fun?”

Only then did he notice how pale Link looked beyond the pink wind burns that stained the bridge of his nose and cheekbones. How stiff his jaw was set. Link slowly shook his head no.

Oh. He was subdued this whole time because he was finally getting on to contemplating how close to death he had just been. Well, that was understandable then, He hadn’t thought Link capable of this level of introspection if he was being honest.

Link looked at him slowly. He lifted his hands as if to sign but stopped himself. He pulled out his phone but the cold had obviously killed the battery.

Finally, he settled on just hugging Revali tightly.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Revali said. “What would you do without me? Now that’s enough of-“ Maybe a moment longer would be okay. They _did_ almost just die. He let himself tentatively hug back for all of a few seconds and pat Link’s back awkwardly before pulling away long before he believed Link would have liked- the clingy little thing.

“Well,” he said. “I have a backup generator but the activation switches are outside and I don’t know about you but I’d rather not go back out in _that_.

Link, ever the go-getter sent him a quick thumbs up and tried to move back to the door and that’s when Revali noticed the limp again- now much more obvious on the flat hardwood floor.

He rolled his eyes. “ _Of course_ you also hurt yourself.”

Link froze.

“Let’s take a look at it then,” Revali sighed.

He forced Link over to the couch. “So when was it? When you were rushing down the basin?”

Link shook his head. Revali bent down and rolled up the researcher’s pant legs which were a clammy sort of dretched from their cuffs to just under his knees from where snow must have fallen into his boot and melted. He was already barefoot, likely to have prevented sloshing wet footprints across the house in his socks.

Comparing the two ankles- the left was definitely swollen.

“Surely not when you jumped several feet out of a moving plane then?” Revali said with sarcastic shock, pausing to stare Link dead in the eye.

Link looked away shamefully.

Of course that was it.

“So what you mean to say is you’ve been trudging around for over a day on an injured leg?” Revali asked.

Link was still looking away in embarrassment when he nodded.

Revali waited patiently for Link to look back at him before he was finally able to use his newly-learned signs. _‘Dumbass, Idiot, twerp…’_ He listed off every single one he could remember, it was a rather long list- he might have gotten carried away.

 _‘twatwaffle?’_ Link repeated the final one with a muted laugh.

“If the shoe fits,” Revali said. “Well I guess it would only fit one foot given how _swollen_ the other is.”

He forgot he had to look up to gauge Link’s response. The blond was… smiling warmly now. Eyes dancing with the moving firelight.

 _‘you (???) sign?”_ He asked. It wasn’t hard to fill in the unknown word and guess what his full question was.

“Just the insults,” Revali said, “so you can’t make secret jibes to my face.”

He did not like the smug look Link was giving.

He experimentally moved Link’s foot in order to test the damage (and hopefully hurt him just enough to wipe that look off of his face. No Link, he does _not_ secretly care)

There was no response and Revali glared at him in annoyance. “You’re going to have to let me know when it actually hurts so I can figure out what’s wrong with you. _Physically anyway._ Leave the toxic masculinity out of the door please and thank you. I didn’t leave the army to still have to deal with that nonsense here. _”_

He ran through the tests again and Link was slightly more responsive. 

“You’re lucky,” Revali said. “It’s minor- a miracle really. It’s just irritated because you walked on it so much after the fall. You should probably keep your weight off it now as much as possible. Maybe elevate it.”

He went to his room and returned with a pair of sweatpants and a towel, throwing both in Link’s face before turning around. There was the sound of a zipper, then some rustling, wet clothes hitting the floor and Revali gave it a couple more moments before turning back.

His pants were _comically_ long on Link.

He pulled over the coffee table for his guest to prop his leg up on and gave the towel still sitting on his head a good ruffle before taking Link’s own pants over to the laundry room.

When he got back, Link had pulled out his notebook.

“At least tell me you got everything that you wanted out there,” Revali said. “So this wasn’t all a _complete_ loss.”

Link looked at him with a bright smile and nodded.

“Good,” He replied and claimed his spot at the other end of the couch. “Well isn’t this going to be _fun_?” He huffed. “It’s going to take a few days for the federal services to come in and plow the highway out. Seems I’m stuck with you for a while.”

Link gave him an apologetic smile and hastily wrote in his book before holding it up and showing his writing _‘If you prefer I could move to the motel tomorrow.’_

“Oh now you want to be courteous,” Revali said, rolling his eyes. “As if barging into my home the other day and insisting I fly you into the mountains was a _smaller deal_. Listen, I told you the town is closed for the season. That obviously includes the motel. I have a guest room, I don’t care if you stay as long as you don’t make a mess.”

Link quickly wrote again. _‘Thank you’_ Then he made that same gesture he made the last time he was in town where he extended his hand from his chin.

“So that’s what that one means,” Revali said.

 _‘Do you want to learn more?’_ Link wrote.

“Why not?” He shrugged and scootched closer to better see the notebook on Link’s lap. “It’s not like there’s anything else to do until this storm dies down.”

If he noticed Link jimmy a little closer until their knees touched, he didn’t mention it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think I just repurposed Revali's monologue from Revali's Flap- yes. I absolutely did. Thanks so much for reading, hope to have the next chap out soon.... but not tomorrow there's a point where I should probably TRY to do school work XD
> 
> Link's thoughts about this chap:  
> 1: Holy cr@p this guy is bad@ss  
> 2: I can't believe this dork just used the word 'firmament' in casual convo


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning was COLD. As was expected of course for a house in the tundra without electricity. It took pure will power for Revali to force himself out from under the warm blankets of his bed. Why in all of Hyrule had he decided to live somewhere that was FROZEN for half of the year?

Admittedly he was born and raised in Central Hyrule but his Lurelinian blood was really crying out at him for his stupidity right now. He wanted to curse whichever Goddess decided to make hylians furless and featherless. It really wasn’t fair that birds got to walk around with that lovely insulated down. 

He reignited the fireplace to bring some initial warmth into the house before bundling up completely and heading outside the get the generator going. This had to be done immediately, he was worried about the pipes freezing if he put it off any longer.

The wind had caused massive snowdrifts along the side of the house so it took _much_ longer than it should have to get to the generator out at the building's side. By the time he had made his way back indoors, Link was already up and in the kitchen.

There was a low sizzling noise and the distinct and mouth-watering smell of frying eggs.

Revali stared at the oddly domestic image for a moment in surprise, feeling as if he wizard of Oz’d his way through the storm last night to find himself in some alternate dimension where Link _wasn’t_ some feral animal.

The blond broke his temporary state of frozen gawking by looking up at him and beaming a thousand gigawatt smile that honestly had no reason existing so early in the morning.

The first words Revali managed to utter out were, “What did I tell you about standing on that foot?”

Link’s grin turned mischievous and he nodded his head down to something Revali couldn’t see from behind the kitchen counter. He ventured over to find… Link was standing on one leg.

His expression looked triumphant, as if he found some great and undiscovered loophole.

How nice it must be to be able to derive joy from something so stupid. He honestly envied him.

Link slowly put the spatula down from his careful work on what was clearly some sort of mushroom omelette before looking to Revali to sign in very slow gestures _‘I-make-breakfast’_

He had originally thought it odd that of the couple dozen words he was taught last night so many of them were types of meals or food related.

Then again, maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised, this _was_ Link after all.

“I can see that,” Revali said dryly and Link only smiled further, happy to have learned that Revali had understood. “Well… I can commend you for making yourself useful. I suppose you aren’t a _compete_ freeloader.”

Link just shook his head good-naturedly and resumed his task, scrapping the omelettes free from the bottom of the pan and plating them.

He lifted both dishes but Revali quickly took them from him. “If you try jumping all the way to the dining area they are definitely going to end up off the plates and onto the floor.”

He grabbed some silverware from the nearby drawer as well before taking everything over to the table.

Link stuck behind to turn off burners and soak the pan in the sink.

When he hopped over to join him, Revali gave him a pointed look. “I must say, I am relieved you didn’t set anything on fire. I was weary my house would be burnt down by now given how often I find you utterly scorched.”

He had wondered once how Link would fare in a real kitchen given his adeptness at cooking even with his limited resources in the mountains. The answer was: WELL.

His omelettes put any restaurant to shame.

All in all, he wasn’t a terrible house guest. That awkward feeling of having to ‘entertain’ that Revali hated so much was never present for the duration of Link’s stay.

The researcher actually spent a surprising amount of time out of the way and pouring over his fieldnotes in deep concentration.

It was the first time Revali had seen any proof of his assumed academic inclinations.

He himself spent an embarrassing amount of time coincidentally sitting on the chair that faced the desk Link had set up shop at.

He made a show of reading his book but he had to admit his eyes strayed quite often to marvel at the odd image.

He could justify of course that it was simply in the sort of awestruck wonder one might have when watching a dog play a piano. _Definity_ he never let his gaze wander to the defined forearms that only a climber could have, exposed by the rolled up sleeves of Link’s forest green half-zip fleece. _Certainly_ he never caught himself watching the way the blond would sometimes rake his fingers through his long hair when he was in deep thought, pulling his bangs back and out of his face in a graceful and seamless motion.

Nope.

Revali sure didn’t notice any of these details let alone find himself feeling momentarily breathless over them.

It was only after dinner that Link finally was back to bothering him. (because he reasserts, he was _not_ bothered earlier)

His phone had been charged and that meant of course that he was free to pester Revali as much as he wanted.

Revali had barely been at the couch for more than a moment when Link hopped the back and was sitting next to him with a look that could only be described as rambunctious.

“What is it?” He asked dryly.

Link handed him his phone that he had left behind in the kitchen and he stared at it in a confusion that was only cleared when Link held up his own with a coy smirk. 

“You want to talk,” Revali said.

Link nodded and quickly turned his device on.

There was the usual start up sounds, followed by a cacophony of system updates and email pings. Just as Link looked ready to start typing, his phone went off with at least eight successive beeps. At the start of these sounds, Link turned deep pink for some reason and desperately tried to mute his phone before giving up on that flustered attempt and instead tried to muffle the phone with a couch cushion. He glanced towards Revali, face darkening still until the very tips of his ears were red.

Was he waiting for some sort of comment?

“What?” Revali finally asked. “You seem… popular. I don’t suppose it’s the school asking you where you ran off to? I’m still not convinced you didn’t run over here without telling anyone.”

Link shook his head no but seemed to un-tense.

Weird.

He fiddled with his phone for a second and a moment later, Revali’s beeped.

 _‘Hey_ 😊 _’_

He looked at Link slowly with piercing green eyes. He wasn’t going to respond back ‘hi’. They were pretty much mid-conversation at this point. He had no intention of playing cute. He'd respond when Link gave him something worth responding to.

Link quickly typed some more. _‘I couldn’t say it earlier (obviously), but that was really cool how you flew through that storm’_

“Of course it was,” Revali said with a shrug. "Engrave it into your memory, you'll never see flying like that again."

_‘You were fearless’_

“Naturally.”

Link glanced back to Revali’s wall of honours. _‘I didn’t know you were in the military…’_

“Why would you?” He replied offhandedly.

 _‘Have you been in a dangerous situation like that before?’_ Then he quickly added, _‘You just really seemed like you knew what to do. I didn’t expect it.’_

“That was nothing,” Revali said, although that was certainly a lie. He had definitely been in some at least equally tense situations, but the other day had been **dire**. “I was dispatched as a water bomber for that fire in the Great Hyrule Forest a few years back.”

Link eyes sparkled and he quickly moved closer in rapt attention. He supposed that meant he was expected to go on…

“I’d never seen anything like it,” he commented. “The smoke was terrible, but the fire was…” There weren’t words to describe it really. Not even with Revali’s broad dictionary. “It looked like I was flying over hell. It was so hot and extended for miles. It got so massive it created it’s own weather system up above. There were times where I’d be shot up suddenly and without warning into the clouds- It wasn’t that unlike riding an updraft come to think about it… maybe that was where the experience to handle one came from.”

Link still seemed enraptured with the story. He hadn’t made a single move to grab his phone. That was really all he had to say about that event though.

“Obviously I’ve been in other dangerous missions too… he gestured vaguely to the wall of medals. “Let’s just say none of those were for the fires.”

He felt himself actually shrink a little under those intense blue eyes and hoped it wasn’t noticeable. He didn’t want to go on. While he would never not appreciate admiration for his skills. Everything involving the yiga… was hard to talk about even now. He wasn’t sure he’d ever quite want to if he was being honest.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he warned. “That chapter of my life has been glued shut and I'm not going to reopen it for your amusement. The stories are quite… _unpleasant_.”

Surprise and then understanding seemed to wash over Link.

Revali glanced away and when a warm hand fell over his and he nearly jumped in surprise.

Link was… touchy. He’d noticed it before. The hugs… the knee taps. He supposed it came hand and hand with being mute that he learned to show expressions and emotion in other ways.

At least Revali had to tell himself that. There was nothing… special about these actions.

 _‘You’re really strong’_ Link typed.

Revali rolled his eyes. He hated that. He liked compliments sure but he hated… being comforted; the act of someone else ‘reassuring’ him was uncomfortable. He didn’t need it. He wasn’t nearly that fragile.

This wasn’t him being ‘vulnerable’.

He just… didn’t want to talk about it.

He pulled his hand away with a scowl and texted back. _‘I know’_

The ping from Link’s phone… wasn’t the same tone as the ones from earlier. So they hadn’t been texts. Curious.

Despite that momentary rockiness, they ended up talking for quite a bit longer about more mundane topics until some of Revali's abrasiveness melted away.

Link eventually started teaching him more signs.

When the night finally grew late, Link hobbled off to bed. He left his phone on the coffee table to charge overnight.

Revali was about to turn in for the night himself when there was a sudden ping. The same one that had spammed Link’s cell earlier.

The screen came to life and an app showed up in his notifications.

 _‘You’ve missed (9) new messages, aren’t you popular_ 😉 _’_

He recognized the application’s logo. This was one of the more popular dating apps… for men seeking men. Oh. Hm. Okay. Revali filed away this new found fact about Link under _‘Why would I care?’_

It’s not like it mattered to him.

He absolutely _could not_ care less about Link’s dating preferences.

He really couldn’t.

Still, remembering now the feeling of Link’s hand over his and the affectionate warmth in his eyes, it all suddenly had a different flavour. Something sweet that left a jolt through his chest.

Now _he_ was being the ridiculous one.

He would reaffirm as many times as he needed to himself that he _didn't care._

Link would be gone soon anyway. As early as he was able to and he'd never come back. There was no point in humouring any temporary cabin-fevered inklings of attraction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm, I wasn't really too happy with this chapter but whatever. In the spirit of ACTUALLY EVER FINISHING this story, I told myself I wasn't allowed to linger on chapters. In the end, this was just supposed to be a cute little prompt fic I had wanted to be done by now but apparently I'm not capable of writing short stories so... strap yourself in for possibly another nine chapters (or more)


	12. Chapter 12

It was _brisk_ outside the morning Link was setting out to depart.

They could not pack his truck fast enough. Revali would have fought Link more about his stubborn insistence to both ignore his injury and press through it but like hell he was going to take that many extra trips in and out loading up the equipment in the spirit of ‘being nice’. He had been _plenty_ nice already and it was COLD.

His breath billowed out into the air with each exhale and his skin burned like it was on frosty fire.

It had only ended up taking two days for the plows to come in and free Rito from its sudden snow-induced isolation. He supposed the matter was expedited by the need to get professionals in to fix the powerlines.

He’d admit (not out loud of course), that he _might_ end up missing Link just a little. The somewhat peaceful harmony they had managed to maintain until this time was certainly no small feat.

Revali’s little bungalow was undoubtedly a bachelor pad (albeit a very grown-up one). Its open concept floor plan was practical for his everyday use but afforded very little privacy between multiple occupants and with him being a bonafide introvert, things shouldn’t have run as smoothly as they did.

The only time Revali admittedly felt a little awkward was when he hit the treadmill. He couldn’t help but feel like there were eyes on him. To be self-conscious of course should have been ridiculous. It was his own house and, not to mention, he kept himself in rather good shape.

But Link was Link and whatever level of fitness Revali was at probably looked rather pathetic to a guy who could climb a mountain almost effortlessly. While he didn’t let Link’s presence interrupt his daily routine, he _may_ have ran a little faster and harder than usual.

Link likely wasn’t even looking… those eyes he felt prickling his back were probably just his in mind. Afterall, very few things could rouse Link from his concentration while he was working. The list was: food. One item actually.

Regardless of whether his spectator was imaginary or not, if was nice to finally feel motivated to push himself again. He had found himself growing a little more lethargic as the winter progressed and this was the exact kind of inspiration he needed to get back on track with his personal training.

He wondered briefly if he’d be able to keep it up now that he would be on his own again.

He stepped into the house to find there was only one last bag sitting waiting at the door. He slugged it up over his shoulder and trudged across the hard crunchy snow to toss it over the tailgate and into the truck bed before turning to Link.

“Well,” he said hugging his own frame in a feeble attempt hold in some of the warmth. “Do _try_ to get your foot checked out by an actual professional once you are back in the city alright?”

Link nodded. 

Yeah… he didn’t trust that at all. “You say that now but I won’t hold my breath,” Revali sighed. “You really don’t have any sense of self-preservation, do you?”

Ug, that cheeky little smile. He was _so_ proud of himself.

He wanted to clap those two rosy cheeks and smush that grin in irritation but masterfully resisted. “That wasn’t a compliment you know. Did that sound like a compliment? Wipe that self-satisfied look off of your face.”

His words were for naught. He was only managing to further amuse Link. It seemed that expression wasn’t going anywhere…

And neither was Link. There was nothing left to for him to do here, he merely needed to hop into his truck and go but he seemed insistent in dawdling and forcing Revali to freeze out there. “What are you waiting for?” He finally snapped. “Are you expecting some sort of heart-felt goodbye? Sorry but I’m hardly that sentimental. Be gone you miscreant, go wreak havoc somewhere else,” He looked away as if to say _‘end of conversation’._

It was true, he _didn’t_ do goodbyes, but ordinarily he would have stalked back to the house by now and left whoever was dragging their feet to depart on their own. Instead he was lingering, positioning as much of his body away but staying put nonetheless. He was clearly stalling as well and was honestly, a little embarrassed at himself because of that.

There was a strong tap on his shoulder that forced his attention back. Link was looking at him in annoyance. He supposed refusing to look at a person who could only communicate visually _was_ somewhat rude.

Link made the thank you sign.

“Don’t mention it.”

His hands lingered, posed in a way that suggested that there was too much more he wanted to say, things Revali would have no hope of understanding with his limited HSL vocabulary.

After a moment’s hesitation, Link bit the finger of his glove and pulled it off, followed by the other one and retrieved his phone.

Idiot. His hands were going to freeze in less than a minute at this temperature and altitude. It was entirely baffling how someone who spent so much time up in the mountains hadn’t realized that by now.

Link started to type but his fingers were slow and clumsy with the cold and whatever it was he was trying to type, he was obviously fumbling. He switched hands, taking turns opening and closing his fists in a fruitless effort to bring back circulation and feeling to his numbed digits.

Revali watched this all for a moment before shaking his head and plucking the phone from Link’s grasp- a shockingly easy task.

He glanced at the screen for only a second to see a string of illegible garble and then he simply took a step closer until he was standing square with the shorter man and slowly slid the phone back into the pocket of Link’s winter jacket.

“Hmm,” Link hummed in one of his rare moments of vocalization. Sounding almost displeased with himself.

“You’re ridiculous,” Revali said, shocking even himself at the lack of bite in his tone. He slowly reached down and gathered up Link’s frost nipped hands and wrapped them up tightly between his own gloved ones.

“Honestly,” he chid. “Be more careful with these, they’re how you talk are they not?”

Link didn’t respond. Obviously. How could he- but his gaze lingered on Revali’s face, he could feel those blue eyes drilling into him even if he refused to make eye contact. He just focused on the smaller pair of hands, giving gentle ministrations by delicately rubbing them, wary of hurting the raw skin with the harsh plastic friction pads of his gloves.

Then Revali felt a slight tugging. Link slowly brought their hands up to his lips and... let out a long breathy exhale. A cloud of warm condensed air escaped upwards and dwindled out. Revali obviously couldn’t feel it through his thick winter mitts but something about the sight caused his entire chest to clench so tightly his lungs hurt. He was glad his scarf hid his involuntary gulp.

_This little vixen of a man…_

The whole action had caught Revali so off guard that his eyes finally snapped to meet Link’s.

Link held his gaze with an entirely unreadable expression. He blinked, unintentionally giving a brilliant display of his long black eyelashes and suddenly Revali didn’t feel so cold anymore. He could feel a vein in his neck beating with how hard his pulse was racing.

Their hands were still held inches from the blond’s chapped lips.

This might usually be the part where Revali would yank them away and say something blunt, biting and brutal but… there was something about the finality of it all that stopped him.

“I don’t give goodbyes,” Revali repeated, slowly clenching Link’s hands a little tighter, “but if I did…”

He almost just wanted to let the thought drop but he held Link’s undivided attention now. His throat felt heavy with words too thick to easily force out. “I’d say just… Be good. Don’t be the idiot I know you are and… try to be safe out there.”

He let go of Link’s hands and refolded his arms, stepping back and bringing up that iron-clad defensive wall once again. “After all, you won’t have me to bail you out. Your luck can only hold out for so long.”

Link gave him a cordial nod- which gave him the sinking suspicion he had in fact, not learned his lesson. It was like trying to house train a puppy. There was too much work to be done on this man and no time to do it.

Link pulled back on his gloves and almost with a look of regret, slowly backed up to the truck, not turning once from his (former) pilot.

When he got inside his vehicle and finally drove away, Revali felt… heavy.

He stood out there until the rusty old road-hazard was entirely out of view and then he returned back inside to start the coffee maker, returning by habit to the mundanity of a typical winter day in Rito.

It was a difficult trek but he went to the bar that night.

He didn’t really feel in the mood to be alone.

Harth was wiping down the bar, Teba was at his usual seat. They both looked up. “There he is,” Harth said. “Saw you went out flying right before that storm. You’ve got some guts kid.”

Teba pulled out the stool next to him in invitation. “Saki was worried. She was up all night wondering if you got back alright.”

“O-oh,” Revali said. He hadn’t really expected anyone else to notice his departure and certainly hadn’t expected them to care.

“She kicked me out of the house at six in the morning to make sure your plane was in,” Teba added.

Revali was a little speechless. “I… hrm, thank you I suppose.”

Harth placed a Vodkah hydromelon cocktail down in front of Revali. The raven haired man had recently come to decide that he knew better what Revali would like than the man himself.

He was… frustratingly right.

No doubt he’d take a sip and realize this was exactly what he wanted right now.

Harth leaned forward on the bar a little. “I hear the plane wasn’t all that was there.”

“What do you mean?” Revali asked, not feeling in the mood to guess what he was eluding to.

“There was a red 1990 Chevy Sport in your driveway,” Teba reported.

“Ah yes, _that_ ,” Revali conceded. That truck was unmistakable.

“So how is Link?” Harth asked.

“Still an idiot, still utterly ridiculous,” Revali mumbled into his glass. “Coming in here demanding I take him out to the mountains and then having the _audacity_ to almost die… Then I had to hold him up for a few days because the dumbass didn’t know the motel was closed.”

“And you didn’t kill him?” Teba asked. It was flat toned but Revali knew him well enough now to hazard a guess that it was his brand of dry humour.

“No, it wasn’t necessary. It turns out he can be civil when he wants to.” A fake expression of annoyance crossed Revali’s face as he added under his breath, “Which of course makes you realize he just _chooses_ not to be the rest of the time.”

Feral little gremlin.

For the first time ever, Revali allowed his gaze to idly wander over the miscellaneous furnishings and wall art of the bar. It usually caused him actual psychological damage but… perhaps he was suddenly missing that little spark of Link’s off-kilter chaos. 

The more he looked the less rhyme or reason to anything there seemed to be. Chairs of different makes sat around the same table when the seats clearly had full sets strewn across the dining area. A set of moose antlers over the tv was an odd placement as well. At the sight of a sign stolen from a street called _Yellowsnow_ he had to put his foot down. “Why on Earth would you put that over there in the corner? You missed a _golden_ opportunity to have it over the bathr-“

He stopped mid gesture as he noticed what was already hanging over the washrooms.

“Is that a bow?”

“Oh that?” Harth asked, he was a little preoccupied washing glasses but he leaned out a little to see what Revali had been staring at. “That was the first bow I ever made.”

“You… make bows?” Revali asked, highly impressed with this unexpected development.

“Make and shoot ‘em,” Harth agreed. “Only way to hunt. Teba does too. You?”

“I… do dabble a little bit in archery,” Revali said, hiding a smirk at the great understatement. He had been a national competitor in his youth after all.

“Guess we’ll have to take you out some time and test your metal,” Teba said.

“I think… I might accept such an invitation.”

When Revali finally did get home, it was late into the night. He learned it actually _was_ possible to get to infamous duo to talk as long as it was about archery.

He quickly got into bed.

Then his phone pinged.

It was Link. _‘Just made it home, the roads were baaad.’_

Alright.

He tossed the item onto his end table, happy to leave it at that.

A few minutes there was another ping.

_‘Thanks for everything. I had fun getting to know you better.’_

He lingered, unsure how to respond. Maybe he’d just ignore that too.

 _‘Good night!’_ Link added.

_‘Night’_ he finally typed out and sent it before he could change his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why am I writing this right now? XD It's almost Sidlink week and I've written NOTHING. Thanks so much for reading. Sorry if this 'snowed-in' mini arc was a little dull/out of the general flavour of this fic. Link will be back to crack shenanigans soon enough :P


	13. Chapter 13

The winter passed by much too slow. The days got darker and darker as sunrise became progressively more late and sunset would follow far to soon. It didn’t get any warmer either, but at the very least, there were very few _real_ snow events after that last one.

Entertainment was scarce and so Revali did end up going to the bar more frequently. Despite the cold, Teba and Harth did come over now and again too and joined him for target practice at the flight range. At first their visits were rare, but eventually they grew to a fairly regular occurrence.

He was proud to say they were adequately impressed with his talent (or at least as impressed as they ever got with anything)

He extended his permission to allow them to use the range at any time and they took him up on the offer, Teba even brought his son Tulin in for training now and again.

When he was feeling _especially_ hospitable, they were allowed into the house after for a quick drink. It was nice… but their visits didn’t quite go as easily or feel as natural as when Link was there. He would find himself predictably drained after a while and would then need to spend a day after on his own to ‘recharge’ before he went to see them again.

As for Link, he continued to text him. It was a foolish endeavour and Revali made an active effort to let it fizzle out. It was inevitable that it was all going to end eventually anyway. He was never one for long-distance friendships and it was already a miracle he was maintaining one with Mipha. (and he had known her for over half of his life) In his opinion, Link was just a short flicker on his radar. Something that had already passed.

Link however, did not seem to agree.

He sent messages as often as every few days to as infrequently as every other week but he never stopped, even when Revali didn’t usually reply.

It started off with little messages about his day. Places he went, food he tried.

Revali mostly looked at the messages in bewilderment and after a day of trying to decide how to even respond, he just figured, _it’s too late now, why bother?_

He sent a bizarre number of pictures of horses too.

…that was a bit of a mystery. Revali knew there was an agricultural department on the campus and it seemed Link had a tendency to venture out to the fields on his lunch breaks. Why he felt Revali would be interested in the horses though was anyone’s guess.

At least once a week he’d get a picture of a different horse with a simple message of _‘this is Buttercup’_ or _‘this is Henry’_.

Occasionally, Revali would crack and respond to him. Usually only when there was something obvious to say back. There was even one night where he had stayed up in bed and texted with Link for hours. (although he regretted it soon after when Link got even _more_ persistent for a couple of weeks.

In time, Link seemed to figure out the magic code of how to coax Revali into responding.

He had been on the treadmill one day when he got the following message:

 _‘I got in trouble today_ ☹’

Revali had rolled his eyes at this but typed out _‘What did you do this time?’_ as soon as he was back onto the walking cycle of his interval training.

 _‘I was helping out a lab in the biology department by collecting hot-footed frogs… they escaped in transport,’_ Link replied.

 _‘…in the hallways’_ he added.

Unbelievable. Revali wrote out a quick, _‘Be more careful dumbass’_ just as the timer prompted him to up the speed again.

When he checked at the end of his workout, all Link had responded with was: _‘:P’_

A week after that, he was sent another disconcerting message.

_‘Got scolded by the school’_ Link’s text read.

Revali had typed back _‘Why?’_ before he could even stop himself.

_‘I got caught climbing the administration building.’_

_‘WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?’_

_‘Fitness.’_ Link followed up his reply with a GIF of a man in seventies aerobics-wear sensually weightlifting.

Revali almost tossed his phone. “I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS MAN IS MY AGE!”

… He had forgotten about his company in that moment.

“Link?” Asked Teba.

“Definitely Link,” Harth agreed.

Link’s messages became more and more ludicrous in time. Any hint of attraction Revali had felt in the past began to properly dissolve away as he recalled just how feral Link was- a state of being that apparently extended into his behaviour in real civilization.

Eventually, the following message graced his screen:

_‘So… I uh’_

That was it. The entirety of the text. Revali waited at his phone, expecting more to follow. For a while nothing came. Then, there was a simple, _‘Nevermind.’_

Revali threw his hands up to the sky in exasperation. FINE.

He put his phone down and walked away. Then immediately walked back. Not ‘fine’. Now he was dangerously curious.

‘What?’ He texted back.

There was a pause just long enough that he assumed he wasn’t going to get an answer. Link was an insanely fast typer so ordinarily, if the reply wasn’t immediate, he was likely busy.

_‘I might have gotten suspended today.’_

Revali balked. 

_‘WHAT. DID. YOU. DO.’_

_‘I might have… set the campus green on fire.’_

Without a second thought, he called him immediately.

“GODDESSDAMN YOU AND YOUR GODDESS DAMNED FIRES! HOW? HOW DO YOU KEEP DOING THAT?!!”

There was a strange wind sound.

It was getting louder and louder and was oddly irregular. “What are you in wind tunnel or something?” He finally asked. “What is that infernal racket?!”

The wind changed into a more vocal, stifled laugh. Link was _laughing._ “WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING IDIOT? YOU SHOULD BE FEELING BAD RIGHT NOW!” He screamed into the speaker. _Honestly._

There was a ping on his phone and he looked down, pulling away just enough to read the screen.

_‘Did you seriously just call a guy who can’t talk to one-sidedly yell at him?’_

He had a point. _Still_.

“I’m hanging up,” Revali said flatly.

He was well on his way to doing so when there was a hoarse “No.”

Revali had to blink. Did… that just come from the other side of the phone? The voice was raspy which made the tone hard to distinguish but it sounded a little panicked. A second later there was a fit of pained coughing.

_‘Ow’_

“You just… spoke,” Revali said.

_‘Yeah, hurt like a bitch.’_

“But you can talk?”

_‘Damaged larynx. Not really.’_

“Then… why can’t I hang up? This is kind of stupid to stay on. Don’t tell me you missed my dulcet tones that much?” He added slyly.

_‘Maybe’_

A small fluster. So not _all_ of the butterflies had left after all. Some were taking their sweet time. He sighed and switched to speaker, leaning back on the couch to comfortably view the screen. “Well, are you at least going to tell me for once how this fire started?”

 _‘fine, give me a sec.’_ Link’s usual desire to keep his fire-related affairs to himself seemed dwarfed by his wish to keep Revali on the line. _‘So I have this professor friend in the department who studies weaponry from extinct civilians and he needed to test out some ancient zonai spears.’_

“I think this is going in a much more stupid direction that I thought it would,” Revali commented.

_‘It’s really cool, they used to ignite their spears and keep them lit by dipping them first in this flammable material they’d mix up themselves.’_

“Yep,” Revali said, agreeing with his previous statement.

 _‘Or at least that’s the theory for what the stuff was for and we wanted to test if it was possible to apply it to combat… We got a little heated fighting and may have knocked the solution over. Turns out it is a bit like napalm it just… kept burning. (still is actually, they’re working on how to put it out)_ ’

“WHAT? HOW DID YOU NOT GET EXPELLED? I-“

His rant was cut incredibly short by another message.

_‘It’s kind of sad though… They’ve been trying to get Robbie to retire for decades and now they’re going to make him. They claim that he’s gone ‘senile’. That's insane. He’s hardly even 80.’_

Revali rubbed his temples, strongly questioning his taste in men. “You… fought an eighty-year-old man with flaming spears. I… I can’t. Just…” Revali hung up and Link got the message to let the conversation drop.

The next day though there was a _‘So now we’re in trouble with the city.’_

Revali was getting fed up and almost didn’t bother responding with his _‘why.’_

_‘We went to the park and tried to celebrate Robbie’s retirement with fireworks and… there was another fire.’_

After a good long sigh. Revali messaged back _‘Just go back to sending pictures of horses. You win. I’ll reply. I don’t want to hear about this anymore.’_

Link immediately responded with a picture of a brown mare with white spots. So fast you’d think he had it pre-loaded. _‘This is Brownie. She’s a really good girl.’_

_‘Stunning. Adorable. 10/10.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yayyy back on the revalink train. CHU CHU!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all chromochaotic drew art and it's so GOOD (Ｔ▽Ｔ)  
> Here's the: [LINK](https://artbychromo.tumblr.com/post/637776830516051968/by-the-way-how-exactly-did-you-hunt-this-wolf/)
> 
> I DIED AND ASCENDED.  
> thank you again chromo you beautiful person~~~

Revali drew his arrow straight back and took careful aim.

At it’s release, it deftly cut through the air and directly into the bullseye some fifty meters away.

Teba’s son Tulin immediately whooped with delight and ran the length of the yard to inspect the target before running back to report, hardly out of breath.

“Holy smokes Mr. Revali! That was a perfect inside-out shot!” The young boy’s eyes were practically sparkling and Revali had to admit- he could get used to that.

He usually didn’t join Teba when he was out with his son but had been caught today on his way back from the general store and dragged along. He hadn’t initially been enthused. If he was being honest, he thought it would be annoying to have to entertain someone else’s kid… Not to mention, he knew his abruptness didn’t exactly give him the best track record with winning over children.

But this… wasn’t so bad.

If nothing else, it was nice to have a more captive audience for once and get something other than an approving nod or grunted one-word response when he flexed his skills.

Speaking of which: “Nice,” Teba acknowledged.

“How did you do that with all the wind?!” Tulin never seemed to be able to keep fully still- he raced around Revali excitedly as he asked.

Revali glanced between the pair skeptically.

There was no way _that,_ he thought looking to Tulin, came from _that-_ his eyes flickered to Teba. It… wasn’t even possible. Saki didn’t seem like the type to cheat and Tulin did at least _look_ like a tiny little carbon copy of father but… their personalities were just too _different_.

“Mr. Revali?” Teba’s supposed progeny prompted.

The pilot bent down on one knee. “ _Well,”_ he said, unable to hide the boastful edge to his tone. “It takes years of practice but the real trick is-“

His train of thought off-railed immediately as he caught sight of a certain familiar figure standing a distance away, watching with an amused smirk.

Revali regained his bearings and threw back his head in (half-faked) annoyance. “For the love of- what are _you_ doing back here?!” He called over accusingly.

Link waved with a gleeful smile and Teba seemed to take it as some unspoken cue to gather up his son, “Come along now, Revali’s got company."

Tulin lightly protested but ultimately gave in and let his father gently usher him away with some reluctant goodbyes.

Revali barely noticed, too baffled by his surprise guest.

The researcher made his way over and paused in front of him, hands jammed into his pockets. He gave Revali a boyish grin and nodded his chin towards the pilot’s shoulder.

Revali unsurely brushed imaginary lint off of his jacket and Link shook his head before stepping closer and catching a lock of his hair.

Oh.

His heart clenched. “Y-yes. I’ve been growing it out.”

Link hummed approvingly but didn’t immediately let go, twirling the blue strands between his fingers with a gentle smile. _Hylia help him._

He had once again forgotten how physical Link was. He brushed him off quite quickly with embarrassment, “Well that’s enough of that,” he said, the tension making his words sound a little sharper than he intended. Link didn’t seem phased. 

“I thought your ‘funding’ was up… and you _are_ aware it’s still _bad_ up there? Just because it’s spring in Central Hyrule doesn’t mean Hebra got the memo.”

It was true, stubborn clumps of snow still decorated the village and there was no doubt that the mountains were much worse.

Link typed in his phone and Revali’s cell pinged. _‘New project, new fund’_

“But still winter,” Revali said dryly.

 _‘It’s not in the mountains,’_ Link responded.

Revali’s eyes narrowed and cracks in Link’s ‘casual’ façade were beginning to appear as his smile faltered into something a little more awkwardly forced. His gaze flit away nervously for a moment before he regained his confidence and typed _‘…it’s in the desert.’_

No.

Revali immediately pocketed his phone and gathered up his stuff. “Well, good luck with that. Bon voyage and all that. So lovely for you to visit me on your way. Your _very out-of-the-way_ way. You should probably get going before dark. Have a safe trip!” He called this last bit over his shoulder as he headed back down the long path to the house.

There was a constant pinging in his jacket as his phone vibrated incessantly against his stomach, but he ignored it. That was well out of his work scope. His job was flying people through _Hebra_.

Link caught up and grabbed his arm.

Revali turned around and sent Link’s hand an icy look until he let go.

“Why didn’t you message first that you were coming?” Revali asked. “I could have saved you the trip.”

Link lifted an eyebrow and pointed at his throat. Begrudgingly, Revali pulled out his phone.

There were a series of missed messages that basically culminated to:

_‘Wait_

_Wait_

_Wait_

_Wait_

_Pls_

_Wait_

_Revaliii’_

Ah yes, he remembered this tiredness well.

Link began to text again. _‘Because you’d say no if I asked over text?’_

“Correct,” Revali agreed, “and I’m saying no now too. Who would have been able to guess such a shocking outcome?”

 _‘Why not though? It’s close(ish)’_ Link argued.

“Hardly,” Revali responded.

 _‘Pretty please?’_ Link bat his eyes as soon as Revali looked up from the message.

“Believe me, you don’t have the charm for this approach.” It was a bold-faced lie, but Link didn’t have to know that.

Link clung to Revali’s arm and mockingly lifted a foot like a damsel in distress. He typed with one hand, never once training his puppy dog eyes off of the pilot. He had to admit that was impressive.

 _‘goid sr Ihav nowere ese to turn’_ Or maybe not.

Revali shrugged him off. “There _are_ other pilots. Ones who focus their careers on taking people through the desert.”

_‘You were my first~ I thought we had something special! <3 I don’t want to do it with anyone else’_

“You’d be safer with someone who knows the desert well- in the way I know the mountains.” It was a valid point to make although he actually… did know the desert pretty well. He spent months in the past pouring over aerial maps and several tense days and nights flying over in reconnaissance back when it had hid the primary hideout for the yiga insurgents.

Despite the circumstances, he didn’t specifically have any trauma with the desert itself but _look_ … that disgustingly dry air, sand and persistent sun had been terrible for his skin and he said _never again._

_‘I couldn’t be safer with anyone else- you’re the best of the best aren’t you?’_ Link typed.

“Huh,” Revali said. An effective rebuttal. A smirk graced his lips and he straightened his back proudly. “Well there you go- that’s a little more like it.”

Link looked at him before it sunk in. Flirting would get him nowhere, but flattery might. A moment later he was frantically typing and exploding Revali’s phone with compliments.

_‘You’re so amazing!’_

_‘You’re the best pilot ever!’_

_‘You’re so cool! ‘_

_‘I admire you and want to spend more time basking in your radiance!’_

Revali actually laughed, mirth melting the last bit of stoniness in his expression. “Alright, alright. I’ll get you there. You were right, as far as contract pilots go- I am a gem amongst unpolished rock. I understand your trepidation with entrusting your well-being to anyone else. First smart decision you’ve ever made- I might add.”

Link hid the smugness in his eyes when he signed. _‘I knew you couldn’t --- me if I came in person.’_ By context, the middle word was probably ‘resist’.

“Careful there,” Revali said. “I could still change my mind you smug little thing. I assure you, your ugly mug didn’t help your case. I’m just _infinitely_ kind.”

Link’s jaw almost dropped. _‘You --- learning sign?’_ This time he deliberately slowed the motions.

“I wouldn’t be too flattered,” Revali commented. “It was something to do and I was already on a roll. I didn’t expel too much effort; I’m just naturally gifted with everything I do.”

Link didn’t buy it and his grin grew to incredible sizes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Revali snapped. “Go get your truck and meet me at the hangar to load up your stuff up before I change my mind.”

The blond nodded vigorously and sprinted off.

Only when he was out of sight did a ghost of a smile twinge back across Revali’s lips. He was always going to say yes in the end. (but he sure as hell was going to make him work for it first)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a short one XD Next stop desert shenanigans! (and Link's safe- there won't be yiga, Revali's team cleared them out) Although as I just typed that the thought of Link casually dealing with them would be... pretty funny... hmm.
> 
> (Revali after believing them to be the greatest threat to all of hyrule for years, watching them go crazy as Link tosses bananas at them like a yiga zoo keeper)... probably won't make it in.
> 
> anyway, thank you all so much for your support!
> 
> (Also someday... everything Link has been doing at all these locations with be revealed)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I couldn't sleep until I wrote and published this chapter so here it is... it is past three thirty in the morning but whatever. If something is written confusingly, pls tell me.

There were irrefutable parallels to the day they met as they stood in the middle of the desert. Other than a slight golden glow, the ocean of sand didn’t look that different from the desolate white expanse of the Biron Snowshelf.

 _Why out here?_ Revali had a hard time comprehending it. He had figured that the massive outcrops of the highlands would be the more likely target of Link’s research but instead, they were a good fifty or so clicks southwest in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

The short little blond had proven himself a more adept survivalist than he had originally appeared, but a very similar dread was pumping through Revali’s veins all the same. Somehow, he found the ONE PLACE that rivalled Hebra in terms of having a promise of certain-death. _Of course he did_ , he had made it his sole purpose in life to make sure each and every hair on Revali’s head turned prematurely grey after all.

“You know, there are less depressing ways to die,” Revali commented, repeating the same send-off that he had given him the first time, perhaps feeling a little sentimental, he supposed. Rather than huffing indignantly and walking away though, Link sent him a wry smile and Revali was reminded that while things _looked_ the same, everything had somehow changed.

He had become unfortunately invested in this gremlin and had reasons other than just a conscience to not want Link to succumb to some dreadful fate and disappear forever. 

Although disappearing here might be difficult… There was no shelter or coverage anywhere to speak of. Or water. Or food. _Lovely._

Worst comes to worst, he supposed Link could probably get to Kara Kara for supplies… maybe. Revali took a few experimental steps through the sand. Walking was not easy. Sand didn’t crunch and consolidate the way snow did. Without solid ground, travel speed would be much slower… they might have been about a six hour walk from the small desert settlement.

 _Goddess it was hot._ He honestly wanted nothing more than to hop into his plane and get the hell out of there but he had a responsibility to make sure Link really was adequately prepared. This was a very different ball game than roughing it in the tundra. Survival skills in one place did not necessarily translate to survival skills in the other.

 _Did he mention it was sweltering?_ Revali had the good sense to change to short sleeves under his jacket when he had heard where they were going but he restlessly rolled them up even further. (the jacket was long since discarded unceremoniously on the pilot’s seat) His back was already drenched in sweat. This was disgusting.

“Why do you never study somewhere _nice?”_ He complained. _“_ Or _safe?_ Like the great plains, or a tropical beach somewhere?” Goddess, he’d _pay_ Link to let him fly him to Lurelin- well not really, Link would still have to pay but _all the same_. “Faron is nice you know? There are rocks there too- in fact, there are rocks practically everywhere in Hyrule I don’t know why you must insist on the most dreadful places you can find!”

Link gave him an odd smile (one that almost seemed like he was in on some inside joke) and finally shrugged before signing an amused _‘sorry’_. Revali determined in an instant that he was, in fact, not sorry at all.

“I will admit I had been dreaming of sandy beaches all winter but in these fantasies, there was presumably a point where the ‘beach’ ended and the water started." When he thought about sinking his feet into burning sand, he had the image of a wet breeze and roaring ocean accompanying it all. This is not an adequate substitute.

Link pat his back comfortingly but Revali quickly flicked him away. “No touching. It is MUCH too hot for that.”

Link lifted an eyebrow.

“What?” He asked tiredly.

 _‘O-t-h-e-r-w-i-s-e yes then?’_ Link asked. _'to t-o-u-c-h-i-n-g?'_

Revali looked at him.

He looked straight back.

“Well you’re lucky there’s no ocean here after all. I’d probably be trying to drown you in it right now. You are _insufferable_.”

Link snickered. Revali rolled his eyes and looked away, unfortunately, right into the direction of the late-day sun.

What an opportune moment to bring a certain _something_ up.

He squinted at the sky almost accusingly. “That pretentious overblown star has no right being that harsh when it’s almost sundown.” Now in for the kill: “You should probably do an application of sunscreen just to be safe.”

Link looked at him in bewilderment.

Well, he still might be wrong in certain assumptions, so he elaborated. “Yes it’s further away when it’s down that far, but you can never be too careful.”

Link tilted his head. 

Yeah, no, he called it then.

He took a deep, calm breath. “You, are a DUMBASS-“ The calmness apparently didn’t last long. “YOU TRAVELLED TO A **DESERT** WITHOUT SUNSCREEN? ARE YOU STUPID?! I’LL ANSWER THAT. YES, YES YOU ARE.”

Link, as always, was unphased by his angry ranting and it bothered him.

“Lucky for you,” Revali said, storming to the plane. “I already accounted for that and came prepared- I knew _one_ of us had to.”

He could hear the footsteps in the sand behind him so he wasn’t surprised when he wheeled around after rummaging through Medoh to find Link standing right behind him. He jammed a large tube of sunscreen in Link’s hands. “Here I bought this from the general store right before we left. Feel free to reimburse me if you’d like.”

Link nodded dumbly.

“You better put that on every two hours, you hear me?” Revali asked.

Link nodded again and squirted a tiny drop-sized amount onto his palm before roughly rubbing it into his face. Revali all but screeched in horror.

“Okay, _first_ , you are grossly underapplying. Second, how can you brutalize your face like that?! Goddesses above! Put a second layer on this instant and don’t drag your skin around like that! Just _think_ about the collagen breakdown you are causing!”

Link, uncertain now, squirt a little more into his hands and pat blobs onto his face.

Revali fell back dramatically to sit on the plane’s doorstep. “Medoh darling, what are we going to do with this man?” He asked, stroking her for any bit of comfort he could get before sighing at Link deeply and beckoning him forward. “Alright, I’m only showing you once. Get over here immediately.”

As Link positioned himself in front of where Revali sat, he now stood a few inches taller. Revali reached up and gently massaged the cream into his skin. (the touch being entirely clinical of course) 

“You still have to rub it all in," he explained, "but be soft with your touch. Sunscreen is the most important step to your skincare routine you know, sun damage is the leading cause of premature aging.”

He paused on that thought and rubbed a thumb across Link’s cheekbone. For someone who put so little care into themselves, it was simply unfair how smooth and unblemished his skin was. “What a waste that would be,” he commented in idle thought. Although… the more he carefully scrutinized it, the more red it all was starting to look. Maybe it already had burned a little in the time they spent dawdling after all? Link’s ears were reddening too…

Revali held out a hand.

Link lurched to attention and stared at it in dazed confusion. 

“More,” he demanded.

He still looked disoriented for a moment but quickly caught on and dispensed some more sunscreen onto Revali’s palm.

He nodded in approval and quickly got to work on the outer shells of Link’s ears. When that was done, he rubbed the remainder into the back of Link’s neck.

Right.

How to bring up the next question?

Actually, no.

This was tedious.

Honestly, why was he putting so much effort dancing around it all? To protect Link’s pride? He already knew he had none of that. Revali sighed. “you know what? I’m running out of patience beating around the bush like this.”

His hands were still on the back of Link’s neck and the researcher’s eyes snapped open, (he hadn’t even noticed they had closed)

“It’s getting late and I feel like I’ll regret this if I leave you here with certain things unaired,” He continued.

Link swallowed thickly.

He locked onto those blue eyes as he sternly added, “Let’s not play games anymore.”

Link seemed stiff with rapt attention, unusual for him, but appreciated. “Link, as much as I mock you for being an… well, an idiot- _and you are_ , I’m sure even you can figure out what’s going on here.”

Link slowly nodded, but said nods grew more and more vigorous.

Revali was long since done on Link’s neck so he finally pulled away but Link quickly gripped at his wrists as they fell, readjusting to hold both of his hands.

_Okay then?_

He had said no touching but _whatever_.

He honestly felt a little flustered and he wasn’t sure exactly why Link’s eyes were suddenly _smouldering_.

He tried to glance at the hands with as unamused an expression as he could muster and said flatly “Open your bag.”

Link now seemed incredibly confused.

So he hadn’t understood what he was getting at afterall.

“Well come on now, let’s see what else you’re missing. There’s not enough time in the day to come up with an anecdote and segue to ask about each and every thing you _may_ have forgotten. Let’s drop the charade of me even pretending to assume you are somehow prepared for this.”

He had already admitted that the sunscreen was an intentional purchase so it's not like he can pretend the conversation leading up to it was entirely organic.

While it was mortifying to admit he put any thought into any of this, it would be worse if his pride somehow killed Link because he didn't catch that he was missing something essential.

Link let go of him immediately.

He almost looked embarrassed and a little downtrodden as he pulled his pack off his back. 

His cook pot was strapped to the outside with cords and carabineers. A large hydroflask was easily accessible via side pocket. A good start.

Then Link opened his bag and Revali choked. It was only a third full. There was maybe one change of clothes, a few days' worth of food and a large canteen.

“Well…” he managed, “At least you thought to bring plenty of water but… you do know it’s going to get cold at night right? _Very_ cold.”

Link nodded and annoyance flared back up in Revali. “Well if you knew that, why didn’t you bring a single warm thing?! What were you planning on doing?”

Link slowly signed the word _‘fire’_ and Revali threw back his head with a loud groan.

“That was the absolute _last_ thing I wanted to hear from _you!_ ” Ridiculous. The idea of staying up and stoking a fire all night was already farfetched but then to make matters worse- “Do you see mountains of firewood just laying around?” Revali asked gesturing around the nothingscape.

Link pulled out his phone to type- he supposed whatever he wanted to say was now too complicated for Revali’s limited sign. There was obviously no signal where they were but Link showed Revali his screen and Revali squinted through the myriad of horrific cracks (he gave him considerable grief about those on the flight in already) to try and read his message. Still, just looking at the screen gave him another on-coming headache and that was before he managed to read _‘I have a talent for finding flammable things.’_

“Yes,” Revali said tightly. “ **You**. You are the only flammable thing out here.”

Link tilted his head back and forth in slight disagreement and pointed to the canteen. _‘And this’_ he signed.

Revali looked at him dumbly. “You’re saying that massive container there… the one that says _‘For water only, do not apply canteen to open flames’_ is full of what? Lighter fluid?”

Link shook his head and slowly fingered spelled: “Z-O-N-A-I F-L-A-M-M-A-B-L-”

Before Link could even finish, Revali had already screeched “NO!” in outrage.

He hopped up from his perch on Medoh in order to pace up and down and utter the world’s most impressive string of curses before pointing at Link accusingly “You are the LAST person in the entire world who should be carrying that around! You are going to incinerate yourself and probably everything here. I’m not sure if there’s any physical way to burn down a desert of all things but I somehow have every faith that you’ll find a way.”

Link had a look across his face that took a second to place but when he did he had a whole other reason to continue screeching. “DON’T LOOK PROUD AT THAT. THAT IS NOT ‘GOOD FAITH’ THAT IS ‘BAD FAITH’. I SWEAR TO THE GODDESS IF YOU TAKE THAT AS A CHALLENGE, I WILL MURDER YOU.” Link had a remarkable talent for hearing only what he wanted to.

Alright. He was ready to leave now. the idiot would be _fine_.

He was halfway to pulling himself up into Medoh when his logic caught up and he remembered that, no, he wouldn’t be.

He tossed Link the thermal blanket from emergency supplies angrily. “Here, this compacts up well. You should consider purchasing one of your own next time. _Imagine that?_ Being able to plan yourself out of a paper bag. It’s a useful skill you know.”

He jammed his hands in his pockets and noticed another item he forgot to hand over.

He tossed it to Link as well and despite being unguarded, he caught it. ( _of course he did_ )

“UV-protectant lip chap,” Revali explained. “Believe me there’s nothing worse than sunburnt lips.”

Link looked at it for a moment and then grinned at Revali mischievously. _‘Teach me to use this too?’_

Revali narrowed his eyes. “I have been _so kind_. Don’t mock me.”

Link pouted (Genuinely, or as a joke it was hard to say) but Revali didn’t care anymore, he got into his plane and flew away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Revali is very affected by flirting but has absolutely no idea when he's doing it himself.  
> It was Alphum's head cannon that Link has the world's most cracked up/accident plagued phone and I stand by that. Will definitely refer to that more in the future


	16. Chapter 16

The general store was more lively than usual.

Saki and one of her friends- _Amali_ he thought her name was- were at the counter, animatedly chatting with the owner but they stopped the second he walked in and eyed him with interest before exchanging a look.

That… didn’t spell for anything good. (He assumed)

They left him unconfronted as he did his shopping though and as he exited the store, he thought maybe he was in the clear.

“Revali!”

Or maybe not.

He turned around slowly to have found that they had followed him out. “Ladies,” he acknowledged.

“How fortunate to have run into you,” Saki said. “We were just picking up some last-minute supplies for a little _‘girl’s afternoon’_ we’re having and were wondering if maybe you’d like to join us?”

“I’m afraid that I’m not a girl,” Revali commented dryly and internally rewarded himself for biting back from saying that they hardly were either at their ages. He had the virtue and restraint of a saint sometimes.

“Semantics,” Amali said, playfully whacking his shoulder. “We’d love to have you regardless.”

“I have-” actually, he didn’t know these women well enough to feel like he needed a fake excuse, “No. Thank you.”

“Aw, come on Revali,” Saki said. “You’re not in that different a situation from us, surely you want a little distraction? We saw you flying out Link the other day- that puts us all in the same boat!”

“And what boat is that exactly?” He asked.

“Waiting on our men to come back home!” Saki announced cheerfully. “And you know what they say, when the rooster’s away, the hens will play!”

Goddess, they better hope he wasn’t on this boat because he would gladly steer it into a glacier. 

She continued on, oblivious to the sour look on Revali’s face. “Teba has taken Tulin out _hunting,”_ The way she had said that last bit suggested she was less than thrilled from this development, “and Amali’s Kass is still out doing… erm, whatever it is he’s out there doing this time.”

“Teaching,” Amali said. “He’s travelling to schools across Hyrule and doing these cute little music workshops, it’s such an amazing opportunity for him! _He loves children_.”

He clearly did if their ridiculously massive clan of daughters said anything.

To this day, Revali was still uncertain how many of them there were.

At first, he had thought she just had one daughter who was somehow _everywhere_ but then he started seeing them around doubled or even tripled up. They all just… looked identical.

Well not really. When he looked closer, he realized they were all clearly slightly different ages- but that didn’t stop them from looking like yearly released editions of the exact same girl. The only real discernible difference between them all seemed to be their preferences in colour.

“I don’t think you’ve met him yet,” Amali said in a sort of awed contemplation. “My big guy is a modern-day minstrel you might say- always on the go wherever the wind takes him.”

There was a lot he could have said there, but he thankfully didn’t, still hung up on one important previous detail. “Link is not my ‘man’, he’s just a client,” Revali scoffed.

Saki poked his shoulder almost condescendingly. “Of _course_ he is,” he did not miss the way she winked at Amali.

Annoyed, he attempted again to shrug them off. “Well if that was all, I best be-“

Saki clenched his arm so hard it almost hurt. She was still smiling but there was a frantic energy suddenly that made said smile feel just a little unhinged. “My BABY-” she said with a nervous chuckle “-is out there on his first-ever hunting trip, _overnight because my husband refuses to ever ‘half-ass’ anything_. It’s still below freezing temperatures and there are wolves, bears, woolly rhinos and moose that could trample him without a second thought and if I don’t surround myself with people right now I’m going to lose my last shred of sanity and snap.”

A moment later she was back to being the cover model of friendly, unassuming femininity. “We had tried to get the sisters from down the road to come out but they pulled out last minute- as usual- and we have made _far_ too much sangria. You would be no imposition whatsoever, Revali.”

Amali whispered in his ear nervously. “If you don’t come help us, she _will_ drink it all. **Please**.”

He was starting to get the impression that he never had a choice.

“I suppose I didn’t have much more on my docket for the day,” Revali admitted ruefully.

“Excellent!” Saki cheered and the two women hooked either one of his elbows and strong-armed him off to her and Teba’s residence.

They had a cute home.

It wasn’t his first time being there, but it struck him with surprise every time. It wasn’t exactly his style, but he could appreciate it all the same. It was _very cottagecore_ , right out of a country-centric lifestyle magazine.

There was an abundance of trinkets and lots of quilted things, but at the very least, it was _organized._ He wasn’t one for unnecessary clutter himself, but he could admit that the space had a warm inviting atmosphere- entirely from Saki’s own influence, he was sure.

The woman really was a Godsend for Teba. On his own, the place would go from cute cottage to bachelor’s hunting shack very fast.

At most, there’d be a couch and tv and the rest of the décor would probably just be equipment and taxidermy. As it was, she managed to keep all of that stuff exiled to the basement and Revali could commend her for those efforts alone. The place was a little tacky, but it could be **worse**.

They sat in the family room on plush mismatched couches. Saki wasted no time in pulling out the glass container of her prepared sangria and placing it in the center of the coffee table.

Red wine with oranges, apples and blueberries it seemed. Not a bad mix.

She quickly poured them each a glass before taking a few frazzled gulps of her own.

This time it was Amali and Revali who exchanged a look.

They kept Saki distracted from that point on with idle chatter. It was less painful and forced than he had expected. (He was so used to Teba, Link and Harth at this point he had forgotten what regular people were like) When the conversation moved to 90-day fiancé he had to admit that yes, he was following that on cable and found surprising release on being able to finally rant about Juney and Jogo because, no, baked apples were _not_ a sufficient enough romantic gesture to mend every problem in their rocky relationship and that couple **absolutely** did not belong together.

Saki and Amali agreed which, again, was a great change from Teba or Harth who would have responded with just a grunt or an _‘if you say so.’_

A couple of drinks in, Saki began to bellyache about the hunting trip again. She had spotted a baggie of trail mix that had missed being packed and had a miniature meltdown.

“I had put it _right_ on top of their bags. I’m not exactly sure how they missed it… I knew it- I knew I should have packed it directly inside. This is all my fault! My little guys are going to starve out there I’m sure of it!”

“Don’t worry,” Amali said, “they’ll be _fine_. Men are bizarrely hardy, it’s the only way they’ve managed to survive this long as a species. Kass is a wreck too, he _never_ packs enough socks.”

Revali leaned back into the cushions with the fatigue of an old experienced veteran in this topic. “Link, let me tell you, is the **worst**.”

He sipped his drink slowly and crunched his eyes. “Do you know what he packed for the desert? Nothing. He packed nothing! It makes no sense… _how_ did he survive all these years without me being forced to almost have to _divinate_ each and every thing he might forget?”

The women nodded in understanding and he wanted to cry. Finally. Someone got it.

“You’re running a little low there,” Saki said, pointing at his glass. Huh, when did that happen? He graciously allowed her to pour him some more from the pitcher.

“He didn’t even take sunscreen!” He whined. “I had to buy him a bottle and- I swear- it’s like he never used it before because I even had to apply it for him like he was some child!”

The women stared at him.

“What?” He asked.

“You… put on his sunscreen for him?” Amali asked with a giddy smile.

“Well _no_ ,” he said rolling his eyes at the implications that they were out there re-enacting some romantic beach-movie cliché. “I just blended it into his face… and maybe did his ears and neck.”

Saki and Amali took a sip from their drinks in perfect synchronization.

“What was I going to do? Let him burn all his skin off?” He asked accusingly. “I don’t want his gross desiccated body flaking all over Medoh’s seats on the way back.”

“Of course not,” Saki said, waving him off. “You are a wonderful _friend_. He’s lucky to have you.”

“You can say that again,” Revali said crossly. “But not the friend part, our relationship is _strictly_ professional.”

“Strictly professional,” Amali parroted as a stern aside to Saki.

“Yes, yes,” Saki agreed, nodding sagely.

Drinks continued to be poured and consumed at an alarming pace.

“You know what else?” Revali finally said, head swimming. “What is with them and phones?”

“Oh my gosh, **yes** ,” Saki said, pointing at him in acknowledgement. “Teba never takes it with him. EVER. He says he hates being tied down to technology. Of course, he’s also the guy who hunts with a bow and arrow so..”

“Kass has his usually, but it’s always on mute and he never hears when I call,” Amali sighed.

“Link would be better off if he never took his anywhere. He breaks them so often, I don’t know how he can afford it but he has to get a new phone almost once a month! I bet you when I do pick him up it will have new cracks again somehow. Even though it’s _the desert_ and there’s NOTHING hard to drop it on,” Revali shook his head and groaned. “Ug, it annoys me so much. Why are we talking about them anyway? Let’s talk about something else.”

“I’ve got facemasks!” Saki suggested.

“Is it from the general store?” Revali asked. If it was, no thank you. He knew their selection.

“No, a wandering salesman,” she said. “He’s got all sorts of wares, he comes by town a lot. He calls his skin care line ‘BeedleJuice’.”

Revali made a face.

“His name’s Beedle,” Amali clarified.

“ _Still_ ,” he said, unconvinced. “Fine, what kind of facemask is it?” He asked.

Saki shrugged. “Secret formula.”

He looked at her in horror. “Bring me the container right now.”

Sure enough, there was no ingredient list. Opening the thing, he had never seen a texture like that before in his life.

“Absolutely not,” Revali uttered.

He peered closer at Saki’s skin and nodded. His tact was gone after being one-too-many sangria glasses in. “Well the good news is now that we know what’s going on…” he gestured vaguely to her face, “…there, we can fix this."

He stood (dizzily) and picked up the pitcher, shaking what was left of the wine. “Alright ladies, we’re switching houses. I have a probiotic yogurt mask that will change your lives.”

The other two raised their glasses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is how Revali became an honorary housewife of Rito.
> 
> I'm finally watching (five episodes from done) Schitt's Creek. I felt inspired to slowly bring in more villagers. I may have accidentally given Saki some high-strung Jocelyn vibes XD
> 
> For someone who doesn't drink... I talk about alcohol a lot in this fic.


	17. Chapter 17

The air was an unbearably dry sort of hot as Revali waited at the meeting point. Coming from Hebra was just too much of a shock to the system. He had avoided the worst of the merciless desert sun the last time by flying Link in during the late afternoon but this time, it was just a little before midday and the air was simply _vibrating_ as the sand cooked.

All Revali could do was fan himself with the map but it offered very little relief, he was just moving hot air into his face at this point.

The only shade was by Medoh but her metal body was simply _radiating_ heat. He found a semi tolerable spot under her wing but still felt he wouldn’t be long for this world if he had to wait around much longer.

Licking his drying lips, he stared out at the sandy expanse listlessly.

Where. Was. Link?

He knew the temperature was only going to get worse, they were hardly over the day’s peak yet. In a couple of minutes, he was going to pop back up and try to find the guy himself from the air. He wasn’t looking forward to it.

“I love you, I do,” Revali said to his plane, suddenly weary she might be reading his mind, “but darling, you are a greenhouse in there. I will fry like an ant under a magnifying glass.”

Medoh said nothing, but her silence spoke volumes. “It’s certainly not my fault we’re here,” he snapped. “Don’t be mad at me, blame Link.”

He shook his head, certain this sass was just the heat getting to her, he wouldn’t take it personally. 

He froze to listen carefully at a cacophony of noises in the distance.

_What **was** that? _

For certain there was the sound of something being dragged across the sand… but it was accompanied by a weird… orca cry?

It was coming in a direction blocked by Medoh so he quickly circled around and, let him just say…

He had _thought_ that there was very little Link could do anymore to cause him genuine shock but that was BEFORE he saw him sledding on his cookpan while being pulled by a CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ANIMAL.

He had only ever seen pictures of sand seals in national geographic magazines. There were predicted to be only a small handful of them left in the world and for a while, they were thought even to maybe have gone extinct.

Even snapping an up-close photo was considered a near-impossible task given their overall timidness and ability to detect the slightest movements in the sand.

People describe their once-in-a-lifetime encounters with sand seals with the same sort of reverence as if they had crossed paths with a unicorn. For the people of Kara Kara, the appearance of a ‘gentle giant of the desert’ was something almost sacred and deeply spiritual.

Yet here Link was, making a complete mockery of it all. Revali watched entirely deadpan (and dead inside) as the creature careened towards him, wailing and hollering against the rope Link had somehow managed to get looped around it.

Maybe to someone, this might even have been funny. It was too bad Revali had virtually no sense of humour.

As Link got close, he let the poor thing go by releasing one of his grips on the rope. Unfortunately, the seal’s primary priority seemed to be fleeing Link, meaning it didn’t mind if it barreled down Revali in the process. He just narrowly avoided getting plowed over and took a moment to watch it flee a couple of yards before burrowing itself down in the sand. 

He turned back to Link slowly.

After a small bout of speechlessness, he decided not to comment on any of that at all. Not the sand seal. Not the fact that he was _standing_ on the plate he cooked on. (gross) It all just felt like low-hanging fruit and he had two things more pressing on his mind.

“You’re late.”

Link scratched the back of his head apologetically. _’Sorry,_ ’ he signed.

“-and you’re naked.”

Well, that wasn’t true at all, he was just missing a shirt but it was so distracting he might as well be.

 _‘I’m hot,’_ he signed.

There was no denying that, unfortunately. Revali’s eyes fell to his chiselled abs for exactly one fraction of a second.

Link was living proof there is something always critically wrong with the pretty ones. It was a devastating universal truth. (Revali himself was, of course, the exception to this rule)

Revali sighed, pointedly making an effort to not look at him, lest it be mistaken for ogling. “Still, only idiots go around topless in the desert. You need sun protection. You’d actually feel _cooler_ with something loose and airy on”

 _‘yes…’_ Link admitted as soon as he could catch Revali’s attention again. _‘but also… fire.’_

“I goddessdamn knew you would,” Revali uttered with disdain.

Up close he could see Link’s pants were also thoroughly scorched after all.

And while his eyes were on Link’s pants (and not that hint of a deep cut ‘v’ right about the beltline) he saw something _move_ just a little off-center to the crotch of Link’s trousers, there was an unholy wriggling.

Horror.

If he were as suave as he believed he was, he’d have crossed his arms lifted an eyebrow and said “Someone’s happy to see me.” However, he was not. Instead, he jumped back several paces and screamed.

This was one of those rare cases when his fight or flight instincts veered sharply towards ‘flight’.

“WHAT IS THAT?” He cried. (vulgar obscenities omitted)

Link glanced down in confusion and burst into a fit of giggles before slowly reaching into his pocket and pulling out a… LIZARD??

Revali screeched. “IN YOUR POCKET? WHY? WHY WOULD YOU KEEP THAT SO CLOSE TO YOUR… _bits_?” Lizards had teeth didn’t they? They must. Revali stared at the dangling creature and began sweating for a reason other than just the heat.

Link signed, _‘E-M-E-R-G-E-N-C-Y Food’_

Yes… hot but tragically defective in the head. There was no saving this one.

“I’m going to make this dead clear,” Revali started. “There will be NO live critters on my plane. I haven’t forgotten about that frog incident at your school.”

Link pouted.

“Let it go,” Revali said, not budging an inch.

Ruefully, Link released the lizard and just like the sand seal, it fled at top speeds away, perhaps aware of its close brush with death.

“Is that it?” Revali asked. It was meant to be a sarcastic question he _hadn’t_ expected Link to sigh dramatically and sling off his backpack before pulling two more lizards out of either one of his side pockets.

Revali opened his mouth to comment but link cautiously opened the main flap of his bag and gently kicked it over before retreating to Revali’s side.

“Wha-“

A MASSIVE VIPER slithered out.

That one **definitely** had teeth, _and venom_.

It eyed them for a moment and Revali wondered if this really was how and where he was going to die. If it was, being run over by a sand seal would have been a much cooler story. He shouldn't have moved back then.

Link made a begrudging shooing motion and the snake slithered off.

“I’m starting to wonder if your business is worth it,” Revali commented. “I’m thinking maybe not.”

Link sent him a sidelong look of _‘you don’t mean that’_ and went to retrieve his bag.

This was his first time seeing Link’s back and GODDESS it was red.

There was a distinctive gradient in the places where he hadn’t managed to reach with the sunscreen and it resulted in an aggravated looking cow-splotch centred squarely between his shoulders.

Idiot.

This was exactly why you always wear a shirt.

Link grabbed the bag and wadded back over.

“Well then, I’m sure you are eager for some Hebra wind right about now, I sure am. Pick up your feet let’s go,” Revali ordered, unimpressed when Link stopped in front of him.

Link just shook his head and pulled out his phone. He wrote out something hastily and showed it to Revali but his screen was, as predicted, now almost entirely unreadable. Some cracks were so large that grains of sand even got wedged in-between.

He had to take it in his own hands and hold it under Medoh’s shadow before he could decipher: _‘Change of plans, I need to go to the Great Plateau first’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally happening next chap is going to have legit fluff 😭😭😭 and character exposition 😭😭😭 (hints of Link's backstory??????)  
> As is the case with chaps you are actually excited about writing I am no doubt going to struggle a lot -_- so we'll see if anything comes out any time soon. 
> 
> The reptile parts were inspired by thatsnotzelda. I was like 'desert shenanigans go!' and got "Link befriends a snake" which I somehow changed into 'Link tries to eat a bunch of desert reptiles' :( same thing?? Mayhaps not...
> 
> Sand seals added by popular demand. They weren't going to exist in this AU but... I agree, a Hyrule without sandseals? Don't want it! Just don't be surprised if when Patrica finally appears... she's something other than a sandseal. Maybe in a past life XD


	18. Chapter 18

And so there they were, at the Great Plateau, home of the most important and sacred ruins to Hyrulian society-

-and Revali had aided in releasing _Link_ right in the middle of them all. This felt like a major lapse in judgement and perhaps a literal war-crime against his own country. He was _pretty sure_ the ruins were protected under international law.

He crossed his arms and tried to calculate his own level of accountability to whatever was going to happen here. Technically, this area was open to the public, meaning so far, they hadn’t done anything wrong. However, the plateau was also nearly inaccessible through any means other than flight so Revali was definitely an accomplice to whatever destruction Link would no-doubt incur on his path through.

Well, to be a little fair to himself, a correction would be that the plateau was inaccessible to normal, ordinary, everyday people. Link was a mountain goat, he’d have gotten here eventually if he were determined enough… but would the court of law agree with this flimsy argument was the question…

He probably would have fought Link more on this detour if it hadn’t been for that desert heat. He hadn’t cared where they went then as long as it was _up and_ _away_.

“I think I might have done a terrible thing,” Revali finally admitted. “It’s a bit like I’ve released a harmful predator into an unassuming ecosystem.”

He had expected some sort of snort of amusement or other sound of non-reassurance but the silence was even more unsettling.

He glanced down to Link.

There was no mischievous grin or twinkle in his eye, he seemed… off.

“That is to say,” Revali continued, now fixing his attention dead on Link, “Please refrain from doing anything… _you_ would typically do here. This is a site of cultural preservation.”

Link nodded quietly.

Revali hummed, unsatisfied. “It’s not like you to be so docile,” he commented. “Have you finally decided you’re going to behave?” There was a slight cadence to his voice that that trickled in at the end of the question that betrayed hints of his concern.

Link just glanced down at his feet with a faraway expression.

Hm. The pilot slowly uncrossed his arms and reached towards the blond uselessly. To what? Comfort him? He wasn’t even sure anything was wrong. He stopped halfway to touching Link’s shoulder, letting his hands drop to his own side instead.

Maybe it was nothing. He was coming straight from another field expedition afterall. He had every right to be exhausted. It was probably like ending a marathon and then having to run an extra few miles after.

But his ever-trusted instincts were telling him something was definitely amiss with the researcher beyond just fatigue.

Link was a ‘get to it’ kind of guy. Ordinarily, they’d barely be off the plane before Link would be dragging his stuff out from the back storage with a spring in his step.

Now Link’s things were in the back seat untouched and none of his usual gusto was present. 

He was finding it very hard to leave Link here. Not like this.

He stood rigidly next to Link, giving him an unusually large serving of patience. Maybe he was second-guessing the decision to come straight over. He was probably dehydrated and hungry- not a great way to start a new trip. To be honest, they had barely detoured getting here, so if he wanted to hop back in the air and go to Hebra then and there Revali figured he’d wave any extra charge… and he supposed this spot was always on his someday bucket list of places to visit so Link had done him a favour. 

He took the time just to enjoy the perfect weather. Hebra was still stubbornly cold and the desert had been unbearable as well for opposite reasons but this was… pleasant.

There was a nice spring breeze going. The sort of room-temperature weather where he could feel comfortable in his aviation jacket and yet Link still somehow seemed unaffected by his own shirtlessness.

Oh right… that. He had done so well up until that point ignoring _that_ particular elephant.

He focused back on the scenery. For such a small little part of the world, it geographically really did have a little bit of everything: green forests, grassy fields, even snowy little bits of mountainous terrain. It was a miniature version of all of Hyrule contained within one big outdoorsman’s playbox.

That marvel was before even considering the ruins. The temple of time was just a hop, skip and jump away up the nearest cliff.

He had seen it so many times at this angle from photographs, it was surreal to be standing there in person… yet it was still somehow only the second craziest thing for him to see that day. Was it always like this for Link?

“I must admit… In all my years of flying, I haven’t been here before,” He said thoughtfully. “I wonder why that is,” he added, more to himself than to Link.

When he was just an air cadet, he dreamed of getting his pilot’s licence. The idea of being able to easily go wherever he wished at the slightest whim had him bubbling deep down with excitement.

Now he even had his own plane and he rarely ventured outside of his little bubble in Hebra. Visiting Mipha in Castletown over the holidays was probably the first and only time he travelled for pleasure in quite a while.

There was suddenly a hand on his elbow and Revali jumped.

Link was looking up at him now, the first bit of eye contact since they had arrived. He even gave him a slight lopsided smile when he tentatively signed: _‘want a t-o-u-r?’_

Revali was baffled by the slight air of desperation exuding from Link. Something telling him he’d do anything to not be alone in that moment.

“So you’ve been here before I take it?” Revali said, raising a brow.

Link gave a slight nod. _‘Yeah you could say that’_

Revali inspected him for another moment but ultimately agreed. “Why not?”

Without another word, Link began to lead him toward the temple. With Link standing a bit in front of the pilot, Revali was once again flashed with that massive sunburn… and Link’s back. Perhaps because Link couldn’t actively catch him looking, he was less cautious with where he placed his eyes. There was clear definition going on between his shoulders for sure. His traps were quite tight, leaving a long elegant line running down his spine. Muscles flexed and tensed slightly as he naturally moved his arms while walking.

That whole situation there probably needed to be dealt with immediately for Revali’s own sanity. 

He shrugged off his favourite jacket.

He didn’t necessarily trust Link with his belongings, especially some of his more cherished clothing articles but the alternative was somehow _worse_.

“Link,” he said.

Link turned at the sound of his name only to get the coat tossed into his face. The blond recovered after a moment of surprise and held it out to inspect it in bewilderment. _‘It’s not cold’_ Link finally signed.

“I’ve told you this before, I’ll say it again. You need to cover up in the sun.” To make his point come across he gave the shorter man a ‘good-natured’ slap to the back… right on the burn.

Link _yelped_ but then ruefully put the coat on, if nothing else, to prevent another direct attack to the skin.

There was some immediate relief as Link zipped it up, a pulsing in Revali’s temple subsided.

Link continued to navigate their way up the cliff in a path that seemed almost memorized, like he knew the exact spots where the topography was most gradual.

They reached one messy-to-navigate outcropping and Link scaled over effortlessly before offering Revali a hand.

Revali stared at it with slight resentment. He wasn’t a total pris. He had been in the military for Goddess’ sakes! However, he wasn’t exactly dressed for this little day trip. He doubted his ‘handwash only’ clothing was made to be able to endure tree branches and brambles tearing at them and he’d surely scuff his dockers trying to climb the rocks on his own.

He took Link’s hand and let the blond give him a supportive tug up.

This was mortifying. He felt like he was playing right into the city-boy stereotyped persona he was so often assigned.

Link didn’t immediately let go of his hand either. 

He was about to tear it away when he noticed a haunted look returning to Link’s eyes. He was staring out past the temple at a larger cliff side off in the distance. He had been perking a little up until this moment and this drop in his mood again had Revali nervous.

Rather than letting go, he squeezed Link’s hand a little in an almost reassuring manner.

Link looked at him for a good long moment before he smiled slightly and squeezed back. 

Well now he couldn’t let go. He let Link continue to hold his hand and simply decided he would look the other way instead of overanalyzing the optics of it all. He couldn’t recall ever seeing two grown men outside of a relationship holding hands like this but… this was the wilds there was always some flexibility in throwing out some social conventions.

They explored the temple for quite a while. Revali didn’t really have any knowledge of architecture but could appreciate the intricacy of the stonework all the same.

Link knew… a surprising amount, more than he could convey through Revali’s limited sign. He often shoved his phone in Revali’s face with entire paragraphs texted out about small details he himself had overlooked. It was a pain however trying to read the block of text around all of the cracks.

From what he bothered to make out, Link was more articulate than he’d thought. He supposed they had only ever spoken in brief texts and first-level signs so he hadn’t paid Link his proper dues.

“I wonder if it isn’t prettier now than it was in the past,” Revali commented. Through the deterioration of time, all superfluous things were gone and rotted away leaving only the stonework. Holes in the roof made the whole place still have an outdoor feeling, not to mention the grass and moss that had invaded to reclaim the space. In the medieval era, perhaps the stale air and likely shoddy old-timey glasswork of the windows would have taken away from much of the building’s majesty.

Link just shrugged, but in the way that suggested he didn’t disagree.

There were other ruins throughout the plains, all less spectacularly preserved.

The last place Link had guided him to was an abbey that was no longer anything more than a maze of crumbling walls.

In a particular opening Link shot a quick text and, to Revali’s surprise, his phone pinged.

_‘This was the cloister. That’s an open private garden that would be encapsulated on all sides by the monastery walls. They’d go here to pray in the tranquillity of nature.’_

“There’s signal?” Revali asked.

_‘Yeah, this is the only place in the plateau that has it.’_

There was a network with a single bar that his phone tried to connect to. It was the Scout’s Hill base. They must have been right on the edge of the plateau at the part that overlooked the camp. He had been there once on a training exercise and remembered seeing the towering walls and the edges of the ruins up above but he hadn’t even recognized where they were from the other side.

Link guided him to an especially crumbled part of the abbey’s outer wall that was easy to climb and they sat on the edge overlooking great expanses of Hyrule.

He could see the training ground down below now and the small military outpost town a little ways away.

Actually, he could see much more than that. Lake Hylia was just a little to their right. This was a good view of the massive Hylia bridge as well. It was about as old as these ruins but had been meticulously upkept for many generations of Hylians. Engineers come in to check it every few months but it still miraculously stands and functions for everyday use.

Directly in front of them were the Dueling Peaks. They looked so close but were still deceptively too far to ever consider walking (If one could have even climbed down the massive ledge in the first place). What surprised him most of course was the distant red rocks of the East Necludian Highlands on the horizon. As a pilot, he had a better sense of actual distances than most but he had thought of Lurelin as so much further.

His phone pinged while he was lost in the view.

 _‘So,’_ He looked up to catch Link’s eye for a moment before the researcher continued to type. _‘That sand seal was pretty cool huh?’_

So he _was_ secretly aware of how insane some of the things he did were afterall. It was good to know.

“Hmm, yes I suppose… I never expected to see one in real life, let alone almost get mauled by one.”

Link scratched the back of his head apologetically, but the next thing he typed wasn’t a request for forgiveness.

_‘They’re descended from these massive ancient monsters called molduga which is pretty cool. They existed at the same time for a short while. Ancient desert people would ride around on sand seals like I did and pray they didn’t run into one of them. It would probably be like encountering a megalodon in the ocean- scary stuff.’_

Revali took pause as he read this. _Ancient desert people?_ Was that a thing? It sounded like something he would have learned about at some point in the basic Hyrulian education system. They had entire repeating units on the zonai and sheikah in primary school after all. This felt like it would fall under the ‘history that would interest an eleven year old’ umbrella.

He didn’t really doubt Link though.

“You seem surprisingly interested in this stuff,” Revali commented.

Link’s lips quirked upwards a little. _‘Yeah’_

He paused and then added: _‘when you grow up around ruins I guess you kind of get interested in objects of the past. Though I personally find the animal stuff cooler for some reason.’_

“What?” Revali asked, rereading the line a few times. “You grew up around ruins?”

Link didn’t make any effort to type right away.

It was an unusual amount of sharing from him to begin with. He sent his pictures of horses. He often talked about his day, he rarely however, really talked about himself.

 _‘here.’_ Link finally typed.

“Here…” Revali repeated in confusion.

 _‘I grew up here. With my dad’_ then he added: _‘Sometimes’_

“Sometimes…” Revali said. “As in you vacationed here a lot?”

_‘As in sometimes my dad was here, and sometimes he wasn’t.’_

“Hmmm,” Is the only way Revali could think to respond. It was a lot to take in. He supposed it now made sense how seamlessly Link blended into the surrounding environment. He was _from_ here. This was his point of origin.

It was an insane story from anyone else, but it just _fit_ Link.

If he spent time up in the rocks by Mount Hylia and the River of the Dead it also explained how he handled himself in the Hebra mountains so well.

One fact stood out however:

“Goddess, you actually _are_ feral,” Revali said in awe.

Link sent him back a dazzling grin and tried to make an exaggerated pose with his hands on his hips but then was distracted by something. He pulled out a tube from the coat jacket.

“Ah right,” Revali said. “I brought aloe just in case. I honestly thought you’d do much worse with the sunscreen instructions so… good job on that at least. Your back is a mess but that’s about it.”

Link shrugged off the coat without warning and Revali turned his head ninety degrees away on instinct as if he had just been flashed.

There was a tapping on his shoulder that forced him to look back.

 _‘Help?’_ Link signed and pointed behind himself.

Revali wanted to bash his own head on the stonework. No. No thank you. He did not want to do that. That was going somewhere dangerous.

“Sure,” He said casually.

Damnit.

Link handed him the aloe and turned around to show him his back again- which was now more up close and personal than ever.

It was fine. This was just as clinical as the sunscreen was, he reasoned to himself. (Although he would have to make sure to never mention this to Saki and Amali this time around)

Revali squeezed some out and lightly tapped a blob to the center of the affected area. It was burning to the touch and to Link’s perspective, the serum must have been chilling because his muscles rippled ~~attractively~~ in reaction.

Revali then tried to be quick in rubbing it in, prioritizing efficiency above all else.

He angled forward a little to catch the light and see if he had really applied it over everywhere, but this was the moment Link chose to look over his shoulder and suddenly their faces were only inches apart.

Revali’s brain may have error coded for a moment, which somehow helped him in looking calm about the whole thing. He backed up and said in an even tone, “It’s done.”

Link tried to reach behind himself to feel Revali’s work but seemed to struggle in reaching the spot. So that was the problem. He worked up his body naturally through climbing and hiking and dumb things like riding sands seals. It was all passive fitness. He never likely actually took time to stretch the way he would have it he had been a gym-goer.

“I would recommend yoga when you get back,” Revali commented. “That’s a rather pathetic range of motion you have there. I think most schools have programs.”

Link glanced away embarrassed and signed _‘Yeah maybe.’_

“I’m tired of saying it but you should take better care of yourself. Especially since you have to use your body so much for… I don’t know, whatever it is you do out here.”

‘Yeah…’ Link signed with an oddly timid smile. He shuffled a little closer to Revali, likely intuitively.

He began to type something in his phone again and Revali checked his own cell in anticipation of the incoming message but then noticed the time. It was getting surprisingly late. “I should probably depart soo-“

The message came in mid-sentence and he looked down. _‘Want to stay for dinner?’_

Realizing what Revali had been saying before. He quickly typed. _‘No nevermind it’s fine’_

Then added _. ‘Sorry’_

“Fine,” Revali agreed, surprising even himself. “A pilot as great as I can fly at night if need be,” He rationalized. “Worst comes to worst I always have a sleeping bag stored in Medoh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you hate it when you are just trying to drop your idiot client off in the middle of nowhere and it turns into an impromptu date?


	19. Chapter 19

Link had taken them back to the other side of the temple rather than directly back to Medoh. There was a pond up ahead which he wasted no time in heading over to. Revali followed wordlessly, for once.

The pilot was far more tired and hungry than he had thought before the prospects of dinner had come up and it was impeding on his goddess-given gift of gab. Lunch had been a long time ago and quite small given he hadn’t anticipated being out for so long.

The water was a long way down, flanked on every side by steep slopes and full-on cliffs. The pond itself was a crystalline sort of clear and numerous fish could be seen swimming just underneath the water’s surface.

He caught Link eyeing them with a look of intense concentration. There was a predatory glint in his stare that really was almost unsettling when compared to his usual easy-going countenance. 

So they were going to fish then… dinner was going to be a long wait yet.

Revali sighed, feeling his stomach quake with the ghost of a grumble. There was really nothing he could do at this point but resign himself to whatever Link had planned. He walked a little closer to the edge and glanced down from their ten-foot cliff “So do you have poles or-“

It was then that he caught Link shedding off the jacket. He really _couldn’t_ seem to keep his clothes on today. A moment later, Revali’s idle thought ran truer as Link’s pants joined the pile.

“WHA-“ Revali began to ask in a scandalized tone but that was as much as he got out before the blond took a running leap and all but swan-dived into the waters below, directly on top of a hylian bass.

Revali was struck speechless.

This looked… stupid.

He stood in place, watching with a tight grimace as Link wrestled the flailing creature down below.

How was he even going to get out of there? The fish was massive, and it looked like it was taking all of his energy just to stay afloat and keep a solid grip on it.

Well, Revali decided that this particular production was of Link’s own making and that there was nothing he could do to help. He bought the tickets, might as well at least _try_ to enjoy the idiot theatre.

He sat down on the ledge and simply watched with a deadpan expression as Link engaged their dinner in the dumbest battle he had ever witnessed.

After a good amount of thrashing, fighting and being dunked on by a _literal fish_ , Link managed to get to the one part of the pond’s perimeter that was on just enough of an incline for grass to grow and that he, with great difficulty could _maybe_ walk up without the use of his hands.

He at least stopped its flapping about with a merciful wack on a rock at the hill’s base and then it just became a matter of dragging something with its unique shape and weight up the steep hill.

Revali sighed and stood up to meet him near the top.

As Link’s foot slid on a place where the slope had eroded, Revali steadily gripped his shoulders and helped pull him up.

Link nodded to him appreciatively and placed the fish down in favour of shaking off like a dog.

He was a goddessdamn animal, and Revali deigned to tell him as much as he was sprayed with dirty water droplets shot like projectiles out of Link’s sopping wet hair. “You are a Goddessdamn animal!”

His outrage only lasted for about that long as Link quickly sedated him with one of his patented grins that shone every single one of his teeth.

“Whatever, I’m hungry,” Revali grumbled. “I don’t have the energy for this right now.”

Link put back on his clothes, pausing of course at Revali’s coat to look towards him in a silent request for permission.

“Yes, please,” Revali said. “It was always going to get deep cleaned and fumigated for bugs from the moment it touched your person anyway. I strongly doubt the pond water made you any _dirtier_ and I assure you I’m _quite_ tired of having to stare at you in any state of undress.”

Link gave him a frustratingly smug smile as he zipped it up. 

“Don’t preen yourself too much. I just like to keep more civilized company,” Revali was quick to explain. “Perhaps ‘stare’ was simply one of my rare slip of the tongues. I did mean ‘look’ of course.”

Link just vocalized a hum that was the equivalent of _‘sure’._ Entirely too condescending for Revali’s taste. 

The blond slugged the massive bass over his shoulder (Revali had to remind himself again that It was _okay_ since he was going to wash the coat later) and began walking off. The pilot followed behind him, forced into the most disturbing staring contest ever with the fish’s creepy dead eyes. He was chopping the head off as soon as they made camp. He never did like eating something while it still had a face, much to the extreme teasing of his extended family.

They’d sure love Link though. He was certain the man would eat just about anything if the snake he tried to sneak onto his plane had been any indication.

Actually... that was an amusing thought. He’d quite love for them to meet Link. They taunted him about being prissy his whole life. Link on the other hand would make them all look downright delicate themselves! It was fun to envision the wounds Link could effortlessly inflict on their own pride. The fact that it would be caused by a boy with such a pretty little face only made Revali’s sadistic glee at the concept all the sweeter.

Well, perhaps someday Link’s research would take them to Faron. He just had to hope the older geezers would live until then.

Or… actually, perhaps it was for the best that they’d never meet the researcher. It would surely just backfire and turn out like how it did with the people in Rito- where they all now were so certain that the pair were lovers. _Ridiculous_. He couldn’t even imagine where they all acquired such an absurd notion.

Oh! A certain observation cut his thought short.

“Look at you!” Revali chid and Link paused in confusion. “There’s pondweed tangled up in your hair! Have you no sense of decorum? Goddesses above,” he said as he fussed with the blond’s hair. It sure was tangled up in there. He had to pull out the elastic and run his fingers through his knotted tresses a few times before all the lake scum was out.

He held Link by the jaw and moved his head around as if observing some show horse. “Alright, it’s all out now,” he mumbled.

He quickly redid Link’s ponytail and shook his head in bewilderment. “You really ought to check yourself more. You’re not feral anymore, take some pride in your appearance.”

Link bashfully grinned and proceeded to show no signs of embarrassment as he playfully pulled Revali along towards Medoh.

Seriously. How anyone thought that he was suited for, much less attracted to, such a wild little brute was beyond his comprehension. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter if Link could freely talk:  
> Revali: “Perhaps ‘stare’ was simply one of my rare slip of the tounges. I did mean ‘look’ of course.”  
> Link: "You can slip me tongue any time you want."
> 
> This slow-burn would sure go a lot faster. Link does have a talent for quick uncontrolled fires after all.
> 
> I realized I was 3000 words in with no end in sight and I thought I'd never finish this chapter and then I remembered. "Hey, you're allowed to cut them into smaller pieces you know" and so I did! Sorry if it's too short XD This was just the only natural stop. I can't remember if I openly promised anything for this chapter but if I did it's next chap now XD  
> (and sorry for the delay, I got a little distracted with my revalink gift exchange entry and then too caught up in reading all the new fics <3)


	20. Chapter 20

It turned out they didn’t really need to make a camp.

Link stopped briefly at the plane to grab his bag and then lead Revali to a cabin nestled in a quaint field of aspens, just a little bit west to the base of Mount Hylia.

_A cabin in the middle of the great plateau._

It was absurd.

He had a hard time believing it was even legal to build a structure on such a historical site but it was tucked away in a special little pocket that would be of no interest to archeologists so it must have flown under the radar.

The building was no marvel of modern architecture, that was for sure.

The logs that made up the shack were uneven and janky. The spaces between them were filled-in with mud. The roof was little more than a tarp draped over the top.

It was falling into disrepair and it was obvious no one had been here for a long, long time. The mud cement had partially washed away with time leaving massive holes in the walls. Debris piled on top of the tarp with enough weight that it sagged in the middle causing the water from the last few rain events to puddle rather than run off. The retained water was dirty and browned by the decomposing leaves plastered to the tarp's surface in gooey layers.

There was no door but he concluded with horror that there likely never had been given the lack of any sort of door hinge.

With complete curiosity, he glanced inside the gaping entryway to see a singular room consisting of a small wooden table with two chairs and two flat wood boards nailed into the walls that he assumed could only be beds what with the old matted furs sitting on top of them. One of the beds was tiny and couldn’t fit anything other than a child. It was closer to the width of a bench than any recognizable standard bed size

The scene told an entire story.

“You really lived here,” Revali said quietly. He stood at the entrance a little longer feeling a growing knot in his chest as he stared at the remains of Link’s childhood. It was the strangest thing that, in theory, he wasn’t learning anything new from what Link had already told him but there was something very different in seeing the physical evidence himself which detailed the harsh reality of what it really meant to live in the wild.

Until you saw it with your own eyes, the image in your mind remained far more fairytale-like but this erased that all in an instant with a much grittier picture.

He absentmindedly took a step closer He was suddenly overcome with the scent of mold and quickly backed away. The smell was rancid.

Holes in the tarp were causing water to drip in and destroy everything with mildew. The inside was probably a complete health hazard by now.

He turned away to see Link ignoring his investigation in favour of performing the task of fixing up the stone firepit that had partially collapsed over time and with successive storms.

As soon as Link was done restacking the stones in a chimney-type configuration, he pulled out a set of matches.

“NO,’ Revali quickly interjected and swiped them away before Link could inflict any more self burns and more importantly, singe his favourite jacket.

“I’ll handle that,” he said and Link almost pouted. He clearly got a certain joy out of lighting things on fire, Revali _knew_ it.

Link signed, _‘need more things’_ and pointed to the fish in a way that clarified that he was referencing an ingredients list, likely for a recipe.

“Fine,” Revali said, unimpressed. He was now bordering on famished and was having a hard time understanding why they couldn’t just eat the fish and be done with it. “I’ll take care of cleaning the bass and setting the fire, just be quick.”

Link looked at him in surprise.

“What?” Revali asked defensively. Link looked to the fish and Revali scowled. “ _Please_ , I can cut a fish. I come from a long line of Lurelinian fishermen I’ll have you know. My uncles and grandfather are still out on the boats to this day. I’m not nearly as helpless an outdoorsman as you seem to assume.”

Link gave him a slightly impressed nod.

“Well then be off,” he dismissed, and Link nodded again before jogging away. He turned his attention back on the fish and pulled out his worn multitool. This was going to be a little difficult with the wrong knife but he was now bound and determined to show Link the cleanest cuts he’d ever seen. Just to spite him.

\---

Link came back just as Revali was finishing his own chores with meat (from where???) and a few spicy peppers.

He collected the fillets of fish Revali prepared and immediately set up his cook pot on top of the fire.

He threw in the fish and meat and the silence was immediately filled with a delectable sizzle. An appealing aroma quickly followed. Link paused at the peppers.

He looked to Revali and pointed at one in silent question.

“Yes, spicy is fine,” Revali said.

The smile Link sent his way was another one of approval and Revali, for the life of him, could not understand how such a simple exchange over something so mundane caused his breath to feel as burdened as it did. Praise from someone like Link was hardly anything special, yet it somehow felt like it was.

Link was quick to add in the peppers and everything fried up remarkably fast. Soon Link was handing him a piece of wood with some of the seafood and meat spicy stir fry sitting on top.

The meal was, predictably at this point, amazing.

Link had a voracious appetite, something Revali already knew, but it meant he grossly overestimated how much he had to make for two people. (Which of course also made Revali wonder if maybe Link wasn’t accustomed to cooking for anyone other than himself, a thought that had him oddly tickled)

Revali usually stuck to a strict and controlled diet- he was always meticulous about counting calories and portions. However, perhaps from how tender and fresh the meat was combined with how hungry he had been and how Link kept serving him each time his ‘plate’ was empty, he ended up eating far more than he probably should have.

He was properly bloated by the end. It didn’t feel great. It had been such a long time since he ‘binged’ anything, his stomach wasn’t used to being so full. 

He leaned back and groaned. “You did this to me on purpose,” he accused

Link had barely finished eating before he was up and busy at work brining the remaining uncooked meat for the rest of his trip. Still, he stopped what he was doing to turn to Revali with a downright coy twinkle in his eye. _‘Think I try to --- you up so you can’t fly away?’_ He signed.

“What was that middle word?” Revali asked.

 _‘f-a-t-t-e-n’_ he signed each letter with a grin.

Revali scowled. “Whether it was intentional or not, it worked,” he finally commented. “I feel nauseous, I’m not going anywhere.”

Link seemed to have completely forgotten what he was doing now in favour of fixing Revali with the entirety of his attention.

 _‘your sign is better than I thought’_ Linked commented, purposely forming each word slowly. _‘I was going easy on you. I didn’t know.’_

Revali pointedly didn’t look at him when he replied off-handedly. “Again, it was a passing hobby just to see if I could. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

This was the hundredth time today where Link fixed him with that _knowing_ look. One more time and he swore he’d strangle him.

He would have done it this time but Link was saved by Revali’s own physical discomfort. He was simply too full and lethargic to muster up any motivation to move. He just sat as Link continued back on his task of slicing up the meats and coating them with the salt he shaved off a massive chunk of halite he and his father must have mined from Mount Hylia at some point in the past.

They really foraged _everything_ it seemed. 

The lengthy process meant of course that Link’s hands were too busy for the most part to be able to talk in any meaningful way.

Well that hardly bothered Revali who was a master at long one-sided rambles. There was a reason it took him four months to even realize Link couldn’t talk.

He gossiped about Rito, relaying info he had acquired from Saki and Amali on their morning jogs- entirely unaware of what a stereotypical housewife he sounded like as he interspersed his own personal opinions. Link just chuckled along at the proper points and continued on his work, a faint smile ghosting his lips.

After a while, Revali was finally growing impatient. There was simply so much meat that this was taking forever. He knew Link was a glutton but there was no way he had needed this much.

“Was the boar really necessary?” He asked. “That bass was more than enough to feed a whole family on its own. This all was a little… _indulgent_ for two people, don’t you think?” Revali commented.

Link turned around with an almost sheepish expression. _‘special dinner.’_ He paused trying to find the right set of words that Revali might have any hope of understanding. His hands were still too messy from handling the meat to touch his phone or paper. _‘Good to be i-n-d-u-l-g-e-n-t sometimes’_

“Hmm, treating me were you?” Revali said and then felt properly scandalized by how flirtatious his own tone was. It was Link’s fault, he had been coquettish all day and it was finally starting to rub off on him. Of course, the fact that Link now seemed to be the bashful one was awakening something predatory in the pilot, his hawk-like gaze narrowed on him.

He was well-aware the effect his eyes had on people. They were such a light (almost radiant) shade of green that his pupils appeared narrower than those of the average hylian who had the more typical brown or dark blue irises which better blended in with the black.

He used them to his advantage whenever he wanted to see someone squirm.

He had expected Link to only grow more agitated but he forgot that this was the one goddessdamn hylian who would sooner take on any sort of predator before he ever considered running away like prey.

So Link instead relaxed entirely and gave him a little wink. _‘I am a good h-o-s-t’_.

Like he said, _openly_ coquettish.

Revali wondered briefly what was bringing it on. Was it just that he was in a good mood? Link had always been touchy and a little overly friendly but he was amped up to another level now. Was it the opposite? Was there still something wrong and he was trying a little too hard to play it off?

Link sealed the jar he had sterilized above the fire earlier once he had the last of the meat inside and dunked his hands in a bucket of water to clean off the gore and grime.

When he turned to Revali still wiping his hands on his pants, some of the playfulness gave way to something a little more contemplative. His smile was almost reluctantly earnest when he signed. _‘but also…I…’_

He seemed to change his mind on saying anything and simply shook his head.

No, not this time. “Also you what?” Revali asked, surprisingly unable to let the previous topic drop. There had been the faintest trace of that haunted expression Link had worn earlier and it wasn’t hard to realize he had been on the verge of finally giving an explanation to exactly what had been weighing him down.

Link tensed his hands but decided to pull out his phone instead.

Revali sighed and pulled out his own phone. “Use mine, your screen is wholey too unreadable,” he said, unlocking it before passing it over. Link tentatively took it and sat next to Revali.

 _‘I haven’t been here in a very long time. That in itself is its own special occasion,’_ he typed into the notes app.

“Had an unpleasant departure I take it?” Revali asked. “Or at least that’s the sense I’ve been getting.”

Link laughed silently and touched his throat before typing, _‘yeah you could definitely say it wasn’t the best send-off.’_

Revali only glanced down long enough to read the message before his thoughtful attention returned to the part of Link’s throat he had absentmindedly stroked, feeling there was more to that gesture than simply scratching an itch.

A hand was suddenly on his chin and his face was brought up to meet Link’s eyes which were sparkling with mischief.

“What have I said about touching in the past?” Revali muttered, pulling away while willfully ignoring that he had touched Link the exact same way earlier.

 _‘That it’s okay as long as it’s not too hot out,’_ Link replied immediately.

“You…” Revali sighed. “You really only ever hear what you want to.”

Link grinned.

“Case and point,” Revali said. “I’m honestly getting tired of pointing out I never mean my comments as compliments even though you stubbornly _always_ continue to take them as such.”

 _‘I was just trying to get your attention, I’d written a message but you were too lost in thought to read it,’_ Link typed.

Before Revali could retort, Link had scrolled up to a line of text Revali hadn’t read.

_‘You really want to know my story don’t you?’_

How… how dare he. On one hand yes. He was now ENTIRELY CURIOUS but on the other hand, he asked in the one way that Revali had no way of answering honestly without bursting in embarrassment.

He chose his sanity over his curiosity. “Hmph, I personally don’t care.”

Link just shrugged and set the phone down as if to indicate the conversation was dropped.

“But,” Revali quickly added, “I just thought you looked like you were dying to get something off of your chest and being the infinitely kind and generous person I am, I am willing to be a soundboard- er, so to speak- if you need it.”

Link laughed a little again in a way that Revali was _certain_ was at his own expense and picked back up the phone. Then he paused, simply staring at the screen in befuddlement. Revali slid in closer to see what he was looking at.

Oh. It was just his lock screen. Link had seemed almost surprised, but he could hardly see what the fuss was about.

“It locked? Here I’ll unlock it again,” Revali offered and held out a hand expecting Link to immediately pass it over but instead Link lingered, staring at the picture of him and Mipha he had taken from that Christmas.

The more Link looked, the more Revali began to feel properly embarrassed. He’s said time and time again that he’s not the sentimental type, but it was a good picture. He rarely got a photo of him grinning that he actually liked and he had made it his screen background on impulse- but the longer Link looked at it, the longer Revali felt self-conscious of that stupid unguarded smile and the way his arm was slung over her shoulder in an unusual act of PDA. He was normally more private with his affections but he had been high on the energy of the city, having gotten too used to the much slower pace of life in Rito and behaved a little uncharacteristically.

“Staring at it won’t unlock it,” Revali commented as calmly as he could. “Here pass it over, I’ll unlock it for you,” he urged again.

Link just shook his head and signed instead, the gestures droopy and lacking their usual energy, _‘no, it’s fine. It’s not important.’_

Revali wanted to throw his head back and groan. He finally almost had him.

Link moved to stand and Revali panicked. “Oh no you don’t!” He said through gritted teeth and looped his arms around Link’s torso to pull him back in. Link fell hard back between the pilot’s legs.

If Revali had been paying any attention to Link himself he’d have noticed the shocked and flustered expression but he was too busy grappling him and fixing his attention on his phone.

“You think I’m letting you take a single step with my phone after seeing how you manage to so thoroughly destroy your own all of the time? I’m sorry it’s not happen-“ He had managed to pry the device from Link’s grasp in this time and only then did he look up at the researcher and notice his berry-red face and wild-eyed expression.

“What?” He asked dumbly.

He took stock of their positions.

He still had one arm tightly wrapped around his waist, holding Link’s back firmly against his own chest.

It was a ridiculously intimate image of his own creation.

He let go expecting Link to shuffle off in a hurry but instead, he just sat up a little so he was off of Revali but still seated in front of him. Once Link was facing forward, Revali could no longer see his face, just his shoulders which seemed just a little more slumped than usual. He was like a slightly wilting plant from behind.

He was fine with this- not facing Link that was. It gave him time to control his racing veins. When he finally calmed he unlocked his phone and handed it back to Link as if nothing had just happened.

“Listen, I’m tired of you constantly twiddling your thumbs as if you’re on the verge of saying _something_. I’ve been remarkably patient but it’s getting annoying. Just say what you’re thinking.”

He was referring of course to whatever Link was trying to say about his experience on the Great Plateau so he was caught a little off-guard when all Link typed was _‘she’s pretty’._

“Who?” Revali asked dumbly.

 _‘the girl’_ Link replied. _‘In your picture.’_

Something twisted in Revali’s stomach and it shockingly wasn’t heartburn or indigestion from that _disgusting_ quantity of meat. “Mipha?” He asked. “I suppose… it’s honestly hard to see her that way at this point. I’m not introducing her to you if that’s what you’re thinking. You are FAR too wild for her.” It wasn’t exactly true, Mipha was shockingly strong for how delicately she spoke. If anyone could domesticate Link it would be her, but the idea left him bitter. As did the idea of Link possibly being attracted to her for that matter.

 _‘Not your girlfriend?’_ Link asked.

Revali almost choked. “Absolutely not.”

 _‘Sister?’_ He tried.

“Might as well be,” Revali said with a shrug Link wouldn’t see with their positions. “We met when we were 12, she was a sea cadet and I was an air cadet but we had a joint camp in Akkala for that age group. Neither of us exactly fit in with the riffraff so we migrated towards each other and have been close since.”

However, he paused in thought, how was it they hadn’t ever gotten together? It would have made more sense than not. They got along after all and that was a rare thing for Revali. “I suppose she’s just not my type,” he said more to himself than to Link. It was true. He was just a _little_ bit of a bully sometimes and while he did his best to be better for Mipha, he preferred someone he could openly tease without that heavy guilt when it came to his romantic partners. (Although with that line of thinking he wondered if he wasn’t just a little warped) He needed either someone who would retort back... or an utter moron who frankly deserved anything he dished out. He didn't glance at Link at that thought. _He didn't._

He did however turn his attention back to Link for other reasons, having decided this wasn’t the time for serious self-reflection. Not when it meant dropping another important topic. “Now would you like to stop being so infuriating and just get to the point?”

Link, ever the agent of chaos did the one thing he hadn’t expected and fell back into Revali’s chest.

He was about ready to scream his protests but that was before he read over Link’s shoulder _‘I got taken away from here after an accident.’_

Link leaning on him became old news- it wasn’t a huge deal anyway. Link was more animal than human in his eyes at this point, this was no different than a cat sitting on your lap… Revali told himself as an excuse as to why he didn’t really feel like shoving the blond away. Plus reading the screen in this position was much easier.

“Oh?” He asked.

_‘I was climbing in the rain and slipped on the wet rocks. I had to lay at the bottom of the cliff for hours before my dad found me. I was lucky it was one of the times he was around.’_

Revali had no real reason to speak through any of this exposition and Link’s fingers kept typing away anyway. There was hardly a pause where it was appropriate to interject.

_‘Even after he found me I was of course left on my own again since he had to go off to the abbey to call for help. I really thought I was going to die there… then he guided the rescue helicopter over and it was just this rush of activity but I wasn’t really fully conscious at that point. Apparently, I was ventilated poorly and that was when my larynx got torn.’_

What do you even say to any of that? Revali decided to just take a page from Link’s book for once and rest his chin onto the blond’s shoulder comfortingly.

Link paused and then leaned a little into the touch, his still damp lake-scented hair brushing against Revali’s cheek.

Ordinarily, he’d be revolted. It was really a wonder that he wasn’t. Still, he was only doing that this once, and only because any words of condolences felt far more cringy.

_‘It was the last time I saw my dad before he died, they wouldn’t let me come back.’_

“Of course not,” Revali scoffed. “I can’t imagine why you’d want to! It was downright child abuse, your accident was inevitable and you are lucky it turned out as it did.”

Link didn’t seem to agree so Revali tucked Link’s bangs behind his ear (to get them out of his own face, lay off!) and murmured. “Very few kids would have survived a life like this. It’s a parent’s duty to ensure your safety at that age, not your own.”

Link typed slowly in a way that if he could talk, Revali imagined would sound soft, _‘I liked it here’_

“Yet when I dropped you here you looked like you wanted to be anywhere else,” Revali commented.

 _‘I was left here alone a lot’_ Link typed. _‘I was okay with it because I always knew he was coming back, it’s just different being here knowing he never will… you know?’_

Well, he understood that feeling. He had the same feeling about his own home when his mother had passed. He wasn’t sure Link’s own father deserved such unconditional love given the clear negligence he showed in parenting but then again, for however long, his dad was probably the only other person he had. He wouldn’t even have known anything was wrong and probably still didn't believe it.

“Yes...” Revali answered. “I know.”

 _‘Revali,'_ Link typed, _'thanks.'_

“For what?” Revali asked indifferently.

_‘sticking around.’_

“Hmph, I wanted to see the Great Plateau. There’s all there was to it.”

Link nuzzled in further towards Revali and again for some impossible to decipher reason, he let him. This was just a Linkism, it only meant something if he let it… right? The warmth and pressure felt oddly good with his aching stomach. He was basically just using Link as a hot water bottle. It was getting colder out too as the sun was setting, he only had his short sleeve denim shirt to keep him warm given Link was in his coat. He basically owed him this warmth.

Yes.

Wait.

Revali turned to stare at the setting sun accusingly. It was that late already?

He had thought his tiredness was coming mostly from over-eating but it turned out he had spent much longer than he thought running around outside.

There was a special sort of fatigue one gets from being out in the sun all day and it was hitting him hard.

“Seems like I’m camping,” Revali muttered bitterly. As great as he was, it wouldn’t be safe to fly home like this.

Link perked happily.

 _‘There’s only one adult bed but you can take it if you-‘_ He wasn’t even finished typing before Revali interrupted him.

“I’m not sleeping in that respiratory death trap and neither are you.”

 _‘Under the stars then?’_ Link asked.

He hated him for how oddly romantic he worded that. He bet Link was the reason for all the rumours about their relationship. (Not considering how the sheer volume of times he complained and talked about Link to anyone who listened might have had any impact)

“It’s not like there’s any alternative,” Revali huffed.

Link went to type something but once again found himself locked out of Revali’s phone.

“For the love of Hylia,” he declared, “Here’s the password.” He swiped his hand across the screen in a few pointed motions and whatever Link had originally been planning to type was forgotten with this new privilege.

 _‘You really sure you should be giving me your password?’_ Link asked.

“What could you possibly do with my phone?” Revali asked. “It’s not like there’s service.”

 _‘Snoop,’_ Link typed immediately.

“See what I care,” Revali shrugged. “It’s not like I have anything incriminating. Unlike a certain _cassinova_ I’m not flirting it up on all the dating apps.”

Link froze. _‘You knew huh?’_

“I knew,” Revali commented. “Just didn’t care.”

Link shook a little in a way that was probably laughter. _‘I’ve uninstalled it now.’_

“Didn’t pan out?” Revali asked.

 _‘I just got tired constantly having to meet with strangers when I’d rather just’_ Link paused and Revali erroneously assumed the way Link pressed just a little harder into him was entirely incidental. _‘Strengthen my existing relationships.’_

“That’s fair,” Revali responded as if he didn’t care at all.

 _‘I’m snooping,’_ Link then said and closed the note writing app.

“Be my guest I guess,” Revali said. “I really have nothing to hide.”

It turns out, he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the gold metal for mental gymnastics goes to Revali, that was just absurd. (Emmy used that term and I loved it so I'm using and abusing it)  
> It just kept going on and on without a single joke -_- I felt a little bad about it but there was just too much content/exposition to cram in aha. What a departure this chapter ended up being from the others I hope you aren't too disappointed if you were expecting the lolz. Anyway, we'll be back to the normal amount of insanity next chapter- hope y'all can handle the IMMENSE amount of secondhand embarrassment you're going to get from poor Revali.
> 
> I drew a pic of this chapter what feels like a billion years ago (like, a month or two ago) before I even wrote the great plateau arc  
> [Beating about Bush art 1](https://umbreonix.tumblr.com/post/640514107349647361/link-was-living-proof-there-is-something-always)
> 
> Now of course It's been a time of (very on and off) practice and all my old drawings feel embarrassing. Drew the boys again this week because I couldn't stop thinking about Revali with an undercut:  
> [Beating about Bush art 2](https://umbreonix.tumblr.com/post/644154374895075329/the-boys-are-back-glad-to-finally-be-back-to)
> 
> um I think I claimed in a reply to someone's comment once that I had no idea how to draw. I still stand by that XD but want to confirm I started messing around more on my touch screen laptop AFTER that XD


End file.
